# USA and Unit 731 **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 8, 2015, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-and-unit-731/730382 "2015-09-08T22:08:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Brodi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/cc9497/32.png) [@Brodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brodi)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2015, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-and-unit-731/730382/1 "2015-09-08T22:08:51Z")
Did America really give immunity to scientists from Japan’s Unit 731 in exchange for whatever information they’d gathered from their “experiments” like this [site](http://www.unit731.org/)claims? ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2015, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-and-unit-731/730382/2 "2015-09-08T22:24:54Z")
Wikipedia seems to agree. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2015, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-and-unit-731/730382/3 "2015-09-08T22:45:15Z")
I had never heard of it but since they didn’t use any European or American people in the ‘experiments’ I guess we didn’t care. > [@](#): > > According to reports never officially admitted by the Japanese authorities, the unit used thousands of Chinese and other Asian civilians and wartime prisoners as human guinea pigs to breed and develop killer diseases. > > ```auto > > In Japan, not one was brought to justice. In a secret deal, the post-war American administration gave them immunity for prosecution in return for details of their experiments. > > Some of the worst criminals, including Hisato Yoshimura, who was in charge of the frostbite experiments, went on to occupy key medical and other posts in public and private sectors. > > http://www.unit731.org/ > > ``` ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2015, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-and-unit-731/730382/4 "2015-09-09T08:24:02Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > I had never heard of it but since they didn’t use any European or American people in the ‘experiments’ I guess we didn’t care. You’re quoting the site the OP wants outside confirmation on. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2015, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-and-unit-731/730382/5 "2015-09-10T19:21:30Z")
Not the U.S.'s finest moment. There’s more here: > **[Unmasking Horror -- A special report.; Japan Confronting Gruesome War...](https://www.nytimes.com/1995/03/17/world/unmasking-horror-a-special-report-japan-confronting-gruesome-war-atrocity.html)** [https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1xd0yz/why\_did\_the\_us\_give\_immunity\_to\_japanese/](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1xd0yz/why_did_the_us_give_immunity_to_japanese/) [http://www.ww2pacific.com/unit731.html](http://www.ww2pacific.com/unit731.html) ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2015, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-and-unit-731/730382/6 "2015-09-11T13:52:57Z")
To play devil’s advocate, the US military knew the Cold War was starting and the higher-ups also knew significant scientific intel had already been garnered from Germany (though not so much from their torture of prisoners). So they gambled that the same might be true for Japan’s chemical and biological warfare programs. Unfortunately, they were terribly wrong. The Japanese research was all worthless junk. But once you make a deal like that going back on it is viewed as just making things worse. And yes, the vast majority of Unit 731’s victims were Chinese, Koreans and, to a lesser extent, Russians. And the Chinese and Russian govts **did** execute the Japanese scientists they captured. ---
**Author:** ![spifflog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@spifflog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spifflog)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2015, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-and-unit-731/730382/7 "2015-09-11T15:11:04Z")
I have to go with this in spades: > [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Not the U.S.'s finest moment. Not our finest at all.