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05-04-2005, 08:34 PM | #1 (permalink) | |
Banned
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Human Guinea Pigs: Government-funded researchers tested AIDS drugs on foster children
This appears to be a practice that violated the rights of children and amounted to state approved child abuse and manslaughter. If children were not appointed independent advocates to look after their individual interests, as mandated by federal law and the law in some states, is this practice that different from the research that Nazi Germany performed on children in the 1940's?
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05-04-2005, 10:25 PM | #2 (permalink) |
Republican slayer
Location: WA
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I doubt that this is any different than Nazi Germany. Reading this does surprise me though. There's actually something out there that's so despicable that our wonderus government can take credit for. Lying about WMD's was bad, but human lab rats? Disgusting.
Of course, we all know what the ramifications will be from all of this. Nothing. This article will be the only thing you will ever hear of this issue. After that, it'll be swept under the rug. Courtesy of the six major corporations that control the media in this country that happen to support the current government. |
05-05-2005, 07:35 AM | #4 (permalink) |
Somnabulist
Location: corner of No and Where
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Wow. This is so scary. What the hell is were they thinking?
And you know, I was born in Chicago's Children Memorial Hospital. I can't believe they would allow this to happen - it's a top-notch place.
__________________
"You have reached Ritual Sacrifice. For goats press one, or say 'goats.'" |
05-05-2005, 08:14 AM | #6 (permalink) | |
will always be an Alyson Hanniganite
Location: In the dust of the archives
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Don't be so quick to pull the Dr. Josef Mengele card. Let's take a rational look at this.
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Now, had they knowingly, and intentionaly, infected the kids with HIV, in order to conduct experiments...then I'd howl like a banshee. As it is, all I can do is look upon it as a huge shit sandwich.
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"I distrust those people who know so well what God wants them to do because I notice it always coincides with their own desires." - Susan B. Anthony "Hedonism with rules isn't hedonism at all, it's the Republican party." - JumpinJesus It is indisputable that true beauty lies within...but a nice rack sure doesn't hurt. |
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05-05-2005, 08:26 AM | #7 (permalink) |
Insane
Location: You don't want to live here
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This touches close to home. I work in research integrity and this sort of thing should NEVER be happening anymore. And with places like Johns Hopkins implicated...this is going to be (and should be) a HUGE deal.
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Maybe it was over when she chucked me out the Rover at full speed. Maybe Maybe... ~a-Ha |
05-05-2005, 09:15 AM | #8 (permalink) | |
undead
Location: Duisburg, Germany
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"It seems to me that the idea of a personal God is an anthropological concept which I cannot take seriously. I also cannot imagine some will or goal outside the human sphere. Science has been charged with undermining morality, but the charge is unjust. A man's ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties and needs; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death — Albert Einstein |
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05-05-2005, 11:53 PM | #10 (permalink) | |
Junkie
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Except for the fact that these children weren't being forced to dig the graves of their fellow children that were just gassed. And they weren't having genocide commited against them. And they were being given medical treatment that was better than what many people could get in regular hospitals. So actually, it's nothing like concentration camps. Less hyperbole and more reality might be the way to go. |
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05-06-2005, 03:34 AM | #11 (permalink) |
Insane
Location: You don't want to live here
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Denying the person the CHOICE to participate in the research is what is at issue, not the surrounding environment.
This is my JOB. I work to ensure that the rights of clinical research participants are protected and this is a gross violation of those rights.
__________________
Maybe it was over when she chucked me out the Rover at full speed. Maybe Maybe... ~a-Ha |
05-06-2005, 09:02 AM | #12 (permalink) | |
Junkie
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05-06-2005, 09:28 AM | #13 (permalink) |
Insane
Location: You don't want to live here
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That is called a conflict of interest. If the government is sponsoring the testing, they cannot consent for people in their own care.
__________________
Maybe it was over when she chucked me out the Rover at full speed. Maybe Maybe... ~a-Ha |
05-06-2005, 10:00 AM | #14 (permalink) |
Banned
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"This appears to be a practice that violated the rights of children and amounted to state approved child abuse and manslaughter."
This appears to be an INCIDENT that violated...there, i feel better. "If children were not appointed independent advocates to look after their individual interests, as mandated by federal law and the law in some states, is this INCIDENT that different from the research that Nazi Germany performed on children in the 1940's?" It's not government mandated practice, as it was in Nazi Germany. At worst its individuals breaking the law, who are currently being investigated. At best it's individuals miscalculating risk-benefit ratio; therefore determining advocates weren't needed. (though the risk-benefit ratio and need for assent should have been determined by an independent IRB, not the participating sites). The children in the 5-10 age range were informed of the risks and given their assent. No need to make it sound like the government took their cavalry, lassoed homeless children, and forced a drug down their throat. Laws are in place to protect research participants, occasionally mistakes are made, very occasionally laws are intentionally broken. Astrahl, this is my job as well. I have a list of questions about the way this trial was run that the article did not address. Host, whether or not the US government research operates on a level comparable to Nazi Germany is not one of them. If your overzealousness to make this comparison weren't so routine, it'd be sickening. |
05-06-2005, 10:26 AM | #15 (permalink) |
whosoever
Location: New England
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consent is not a technicality. sex, medicine, whatever. i don't much care that they were children, they still had the right to help make decisions about their medical care. if the state has custody, they have the obligation to act in the interest of the child, not the medical research establishment. experimental treatment, when it's the best hope, is certainly okay. but part of that bargain is that people know what they are signing up for, accept the risks, and consent to take a chance for the good of medicine, and possibly themselves.
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For God so loved creation, that God sent God's only Son that whosoever believed should not perish, but have everlasting life. -John 3:16 |
05-06-2005, 10:37 AM | #16 (permalink) | |
Banned
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2.) THe medical providers (experimenters) "informed" children in the 5-10 age range of risks, that included putting dangerous drugs into their bodies in doses not even approved for adults, who had themselves experienced organ damage or hastened deaths as a result. They put these drug or chemical cocktail doses into the bodies of children and infants and, instead of following a clear cut federal legal and ethical criteria, they explain that they "informed them". 3.) Even at some prestigious medical instituitions now, well after the fact, the defense given by spokespersons to the AP reporter is that these "providers" do not think that appointing independent guardians is required. Where is the assurance that this illegal abuse is not ongoing? 4.) The "investigations" are not being done by criminal investigators or prosecutors, when this is a question of child abuse, suspicion of manslaughter, and the opinions of medical ethics professionals that laws intended to protect the rights of children were broken. 5.) The article clearly states that some foster children, illegally unprotected by law mandated, independent guardians, were enrolled in the riskiest, phase I and pahse II trials. Your reaction is to personalize my comparison of Nazi medical experiment abuse on children with what is reported in this AP news expose. We will let the members here judge whether your remarks or mine are appropriate. |
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05-06-2005, 11:19 AM | #17 (permalink) |
Banned
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1. No problem
2. Starting doses for phase 1 trials are determined by exhaustive, multiple pre-clinical trials. "That included putting dangerous drugs into their bodies in doses not even approved for adults." This is a misleading statement. They didn't jump right in and feed them high doses of unapproved drugs and watched intently with their fingers crossed. DLT's - dose limiting toxicities. Once preclinical trials determine a safe starting dose, phase 1 trials escalate dosing in pre-defined stages (i.e. - no DLT's seen at this level in ? out of ? patients, move on to next). Once say, 3 DLT's are seen in 5 patients on one cohort, the maximum tolerated dose is determined to be the dose level prior to that. Yes phase 1 trials are risky, and no there are no guarantees. The problem doesn't appear (from the limited info in the article), the trial design, simply whether or not proper procedure was followed in enrolling vulnerable subjects (i.e. - minors). The problem is whether or not independent advocates were utilized or required. It's as simple as that, and as far as i can tell this is not even a political argument. Your premature comparison of our govenment to Nazi germany is the only connection to this story and politics, i'm not personalizing anything - i'm addressing what is apparently your biggest concern in this matter. and trying to show why it is a completely misguided concern. |
05-09-2005, 03:50 AM | #18 (permalink) |
Insane
Location: You don't want to live here
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I'm sorry if I offended your delicate sensibilities, but this is too much like the syphillis trials for me. They did something they KNEW was wrong.
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Maybe it was over when she chucked me out the Rover at full speed. Maybe Maybe... ~a-Ha |
05-09-2005, 08:58 AM | #19 (permalink) | |
Happy as a hippo
Location: Southern California
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Yes, this seems to be my opinions as well. It seems that if anyone seems to be doing anything even a little controversial with the term experiment in it, people are quick to compare them to Nazi's these days...
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"if anal sex could get a girl pregnant i'd be tits deep in child support" Arcane |
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05-09-2005, 09:03 AM | #20 (permalink) | |
Happy as a hippo
Location: Southern California
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"if anal sex could get a girl pregnant i'd be tits deep in child support" Arcane |
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05-09-2005, 11:24 AM | #21 (permalink) |
Banned
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No they didn't inject them, in a nutshell, violations of the Tuskegee Syphillis trial included the following:
-Informed consent was never obtained - not to mention they were coerced by being offered free physical exams, rides to and from clinics, hot meals on exam days, and burial stipends of $50.00 -No formal protocol ever existed -The men were never told they had "syphilis" -Treatment for syphilis was never given (though they were promised treatment for "bad blood") -Treatment was denied even after penicillin was discovered in the 1940's The results: -28 dead of syphilis -100 dead of related complications -40 wives infected -19 children born with congenital syphilis The above mentioned trial has already been compared to Nazi war crimes which led to the first of the major ethical guidlines for human subjects research (The nuremberg code). The Tuskegee trial led to the third (The Belmont Report). These are some of the most notorious voliations of ethics in research, which led to massive overhauls in the way trials were conducted. There is only a question in the above mentioned trial of whether or not the investigators should have insured independent advocates were acting in the participants behalf. They did give assent to the study, as required by law. So you've tried Nazi Germany, tried Tuskegee, go ahead and give Willowbrook a shot. There's no way you work in this field if you honestly think the deficiencies in these two trials are remotely comparable. I appreciate your concern for my sensibilities, they aren't that delicate. This appears to be another case of "the seriousness of the charge is what counts, not the truth behind it." If your going to make such a serious accusation, you really should have something better then "they KNEW what they were doing was wrong." If you need me to repeat myself again, let me know. |
05-09-2005, 12:37 PM | #22 (permalink) |
Junkie
Location: Fort Worth, TX
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While I think that many parallels here are streched to say the best, by no means is this defensible.
1) This is NOT like Mengele or Tuskeegee. The children had already contracted a 100% fatal virus. There is no hope for prolonged life for them. While they should have been given a choice, it's illegal not to, those parallels are unwarranted. 2) They should have been given a choice. While no sane person would turn down free healthcare when they have no way of paying the price... it's a choice they have a right to make 3) Ontop of the no choice given they failed to provide the follow-up medical care promised. IMO this is the WORST infraction. There is absolutely no excuse for this. |
05-10-2005, 04:23 AM | #23 (permalink) |
Insane
Location: You don't want to live here
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Ok, perhaps I went too far, but statements like this, "federally funded researchers promised in writing to provide an independent advocate to safeguard the kids' well-being as they tested potent AIDS drugs. But most of the time, that special protection never materialized," make me very uneasy about this issue.
It seems very sneaky and underhanded. Like a, who is going to care about a bunch of foster kids - type attitude. I apologize for going off the deep end and feeling rather than thinking, but this is still a troubling issue.
__________________
Maybe it was over when she chucked me out the Rover at full speed. Maybe Maybe... ~a-Ha |
Tags |
aids, children, drugs, foster, governmentfunded, guinea, human, pigs, researchers, tested |
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