cover image Guinea Pig Zero: An Anthology of the Journal for Human Research Subjects

Guinea Pig Zero: An Anthology of the Journal for Human Research Subjects

. New Mouth for the Dirty South, $14.95 (245pp) ISBN 978-1-891053-84-9

In 1996, freelance lab rat and activist Robert Helms, under the nom de plume Guinea Pig Zero, began to publish a zine with the same name; in Guinea Pig Zero: An Anthology of the Journal for Human Research Subjects, he gathers together a few dozen contributions (many of which he penned) exploring ""this dark little corner of modern science from the subject's own viewpoint."" From Donno's tale of going bonkers in a sleep-deprivation study, to Beth Lavoie's discussion of the various poisons to which soldiers in the Gulf War were exposed, to Helms's history of a 1935 test subject strike, these are strange and frightening stories that may make our trust in the medical establishment seem na ve. (July)