|
Last Updated: Oct 6, 2008 - 12:00:27 PM |
SATURDAY August 2, 2008 (foodconsumer.org) -- At least 12 babies died last year after entering a clinical study in Argentina to test the effectiveness of a vaccine against pneumonia, tradingmarkets.com cited a local newspaper as reporting Thursday.
The trial was funded by GlaxoSmithline and uses children from poor families who are "pressured and forced into signing consent forms, the Argentine Federation of Health Professionals or Fesprosa was cited as saying.
"This occurs without any type of state control" and "does not comply with minimum ethical requirements," Fesprosa was quoted as saying.
Despite the deaths, the vaccine trial is still ongoing, and the researchers in charge of the study said the procedures are being conducted lawfully.
Since 2007, 15,000 children under the age of one from the Argentine provinces of Mendoza, San Juan and Santiago del Estero have participated in the trial.
"Only 12 have died throughout the country, which is a very low figure if we compare it with the deaths produced by respiratory illnesses caused by the pneumococcal bacteria," pediatrician Enrique Smith, one of the researchers, was quoted as saying.
© 2004-2008 by foodconsumer.org unless otherwise specified
Top of Page
Search Consumer-friendly Health Sites
