Comments submitted by The Alliance for Human Research Protection Re: Best Pharmaceuticals for Children’s Act of 2002 The National Academy of Sciences Committee of the Institute of Medicine on Clinical Research Involving Children August 18, 2003 Vera Hassner Sharav, President John H. Noble, Jr., Ph.D, Treasurer David Cohen, Ph.D, Secretary…
AHRP has been closely monitoring pediatric research trends since passage of the FDA Modernization Act of 1997. We believe that medications used in children should be thoroughly tested for safety, effectiveness and appropriate dose. But unlike adults who can exercise their autonomous right to informed consent, children who are enrolled in clinical trials are non-consensual human subjects. They should not, therefore, be made to assume the burden of testing possibly toxic drugs whose safety is unknown.
Debate Over Antidepressants – Letters NYT Mon, 11 Aug 2003 The New York Times published 5 letters re: “Debate Resumes on the Safety of Depression’s Wonder Drugs.” One letter from someone who experienced “a minor depressive episode” and was prescribed Celexa, one of the SSRI antidepressants. He describes experiencing “extreme,…
Debate Resumes on the Safety of Depression’s Wonder Drugs – NYT Thu, 7 Aug 2003 After a decade of lies, deception, and cover-up of evidence linking antidepression drugs – such as, Prozac, Paxil, Zoloft – to acts of suicide in previously non-suicidal people – children and adults, some of who…
Brainstorm to Breakthrough: A Surgical Procedure is Born – NYT Mon, 4 Aug 2003 Two contrasting reports about experimental surgical procedures: The New York Times reports about a breakthrough surgical procedure to lengthen the intestine in babies born with an intestine so short it is dysfunctional and they are at…
A Come Back for Psychosurgery? Wed, 6 Aug 2003 The Los Angeles Times reports that experimental psychosurgery is once again on the rise – at Harvard’s Massachusetts General Hospital and Brown University. It is acknowledged that “Researchers still do not fully understand how the operations affect the brain, or why”……
The Culture of Disease – Fierstein – NYT Thu, 31 Jul 2003 Tony Award winner Harvey Fierstein, an artist/ celebrity with impeccable credentials in the gay and straight communities, speaks out in The New York Times against the current “culture of disease.” He notes that (among other things) that culture…
Infomail Archive 2003 News Stories on Human Research Protection and Commentary by Vera Hassner Sharav Dec 19, 2003: Eli Lilly Prozac UK Fact Sheet: “Not Recommended” for Children – PMDD Withdrawn in UK Dec 19, 2003: Not-So-Public-Relations: Drug Industry & Bioethics – is it casuistry or sophistry? Dec 18, 2003:…
Iowa seeks dismissal of lawsuit: Monster Experiment induced stuttering Fri, 11 Jul 2003 CNN reports that the State of Iowa seeks a lawsuit dismissed against the University of Iowa, claiming immunity. The suit was filed on behalf of three surviving people who had been victimized as children in a cruel…
AHRP Letter to the editor re: editorial ARDS trial July 10, 2003. The New England Journal of Medicine. Volume 349:188-192 Number 2 http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/extract/349/2/188 Note: The April 3, 2003 the NEJM contained an editorial in support of a controversial multi-site, clinical trial sponsored by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute…
Hopkins Asks Patients to Waive Privacy Rights to Facilitate Research Recruiting – AP/ ABC Tue, 8 Jul 2003 In the 19th century doctors robbed graves to obtain cadavers for medical training purposes. Today, medical researchers are far more ambitious– they seek backdoor access to living patients for medical experiments. A…
New Jersey Foster Children Lingering in Mental Wards Mon, 30 Jun 2003 The New York Times reports that foster children in New Jersey are being dumped in locked psychiatric hospital wards for lack of facilities to which to send them. More than 300 children, ages 6 to 17, many in…
