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, the Associated Press (AP) reported.
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 were not yet available in the marketplace. The practice ensured that foster children received top care from world-class researchers at government expense, slowing their death rates and extending their lives. However, the AP review charged that 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 older 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.
Illinois officials believe none of their nearly 200 foster children in AIDS studies got independent monitors even though researchers signed a document guaranteeing ‘the appointment of an advocate for each individual ward participating in the respective medical research.’ More than two dozen Illinois foster children remain in studies.
State 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.