For the Sake of “Science”
On this and other blogs homeopaths have been accuse of being reckless and unethical in regards to the problem of AIDS. This is an example of how the allopathic community chooses to handle it:
(AP) Government-funded researchers tested AIDS drugs on hundreds of foster children over the past two decades, often without providing them a basic protection afforded in federal law and required by some states, an Associated Press review has found.
The research funded by the National Institutes of Health spanned the country. It was most widespread in the 1990s as foster care agencies sought treatments for their HIV-infected children that weren’t yet available in the marketplace.
The practice ensured that foster children – mostly poor or minority – received care from world-class researchers at government expense, slowing their rate of death and extending their lives. But it also exposed a vulnerable population to the risks of medical research and drugs that were known to have serious side effects in adults and for which the safety for children was unknown.
The research was conducted in at least seven states – Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, New York, North Carolina, Colorado and Texas – and involved more than four dozen different studies. The foster children ranged from infants to late teens, according to interviews and government records.
Several studies that enlisted foster children reported patients suffered side effects such as rashes, vomiting and sharp drops in infection-fighting blood cells as they tested antiretroviral drugs to suppress AIDS or other medicines to treat secondary infections.
In one study, researchers reported a “disturbing” higher death rate among children who took higher doses of a drug. That study was unable to determine a safe and effective dosage.
Read the rest of the article at; http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/05/04/health/main692980.shtml
Goodscience Weblog 
I notice they are leaving this alone- another shocking example. Its time for homeopathy to offer its wonderful alternative to this stuff.
freetochoosehealth
December 7, 2007
Freetochoose – the absence of advocates is not something that I would support.
But as Goodscience notes, “The practice ensured that foster children – mostly poor or minority – received care from world-class researchers at government expense, slowing their rate of death and extending their lives.” Ultimately I think that extending the lives of the children was worth the risk of risking side effects, and I’m in complete agreemnt with Goodscience.
Moreover, the CBS news article Goodscience cites goes on to state that:
“”To say as a group that foster children should be excluded from clinical trials would have meant excluding these children from the best available therapies at the time,” he said. “From an ethical perspective, I never thought that was a stand I could take.”
Illinois officials directly credit the decision to enroll HIV-positive foster kids with bringing about a decline in deaths – from 40 between 1989 and 1995 to only 19 since.”
Freetochoose – I assume that you agree that the reduction in mortality was a good thing. The trials were obviously introduced ineptly but the ultimate outcome was of benefit, especially to many of the children that received the drugs.
Regarding the general ethics of testing drugs on children, the CBS article also notes that the reason for the research was to “determine side effects and safe dosages so children could begin taking adult “cocktails,” the powerful drug combinations that suppress AIDS but can cause bad reactions like rashes and organ damage.”
Unless you feel that giving children untested adult doses is a good thing I assume that you agree that the tests had to be done if HIV infected children across the USA were to be given treatment.
woodchopper
December 9, 2007
Its time for homeopathy to offer its wonderful alternative to this stuff.
You mean you advocate replacing combination drug therapy with homeopathy?
openmind
December 10, 2007