nice posting. thanks. with greetings, Anirban Mukherjee
On 11/26/11, Mujtaba Merchant <mujta...@gmail.com> wrote: > Hello Members, > > Although this article is not related to the group or anything to do with > blindness or it's support, I felt it worth sharing with you all to build > awareness of what is happening with our country and giant pharma companies > in Europe and around the world. > > Indian Girls Become the Guinea Pigs for Western Companies > > > > Bangalore: In what could be seen as a new form of colonialism, India becomes > the new testing ground for drugs for American, British and European > pharmaceutical > firms and according to a report on the 'Independent', between 2007 and 2010, > at least 1,730 people died in India while, or after, participating in such > trials. > > In an apparent show of the Western mode of exploitation, these multinational > companies have been making the most of India's huge population and loose > regulations > in this regard over the last five years by which they manage to drastically > cut short their expenses on research for these lucrative products which are > to be sold in the West. > > Ever since the restrictions on drug trials were relaxed in India, the > industry has grown to a point where more than 150,000 people are involved in > at least > 1,600 clinical trials for the Western firms like Pfizer, AstraZeneca and > Merck. Although no official data is available on the size of this > exploitative > industry, it is estimated to be worth as much as 189 million pounds. While > the many on whom the trials were done, may have been only eligible for the > studies > as they were ill, the following complications, even resulting in death, are > often not properly investigated. > > While it is said that the crucial trials were carried out following > appropriate guidelines, the report says the lack of oversight have resulted > in a situation > where poor and often illiterate individuals, picked from the tribal areas or > city slums are used for the critical trials without obtaining proper > informed > consent which means they have apparently agreed to the trials without fully > understanding what they are signing up for. At the shadow of this inhuman > practice > of drug trials on humans, a new industry has been spawned making significant > profits by providing participants for these studies. > > An investigation by 'The Independent' in the Indian states of Madhya > Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, as well as in Delhi and in London shows that > hundreds of > Indian tribal girls were recruited without proper parental consent for an > immunization study sponsored by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, > shockingly > just on the node of the government hostel's warden. Several girls have > reportedly killed and the controversial study was stopped by the federal > authorities. > The investigation also found the use by drug companies of survivors of the > Bhopal tragedy, world's worst poisonous gas disaster, as 'guinea pigs' in at > least 11 trials without proper informed consent. In another shocking > finding, many cases of drug trials were reported at a government hospital in > Indore > of which 81 cases of adverse effects were reported. > > India is just one of those many developing countries being exploited for its > large, ignorant and illiterate tribals by the Western pharmaceutical giants > who spent over 40 billion pounds last year on research and development. It's > said that over 120,000 trials are taking place in 178 countries and the > companies > can reportedly reduce up to 60 percent of their spending on research through > outsourcing the works to these third world countries. The article also > reveals > that a quarter of all clinical data submitted to European drug regulators > for approval are obtained from trials in low- and middle-income countries. > > > > > > > Search for old postings at: > http://www.mail-archive.com/accessindia@accessindia.org.in/ > > To unsubscribe send a message to > accessindia-requ...@accessindia.org.in > with the subject unsubscribe. > > To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please > visit the list home page at > http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in > > Search for old postings at: http://www.mail-archive.com/accessindia@accessindia.org.in/ To unsubscribe send a message to accessindia-requ...@accessindia.org.in with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in
