May 27, 2005

Report Faults Studies Using Foster Children

By JEFFREY BRAINARD

Researchers at academic medical centers and other hospitals tested AIDS drugs on hundreds of foster children over the past two decades, often without providing them with guardians to oversee their welfare, as is required by federal rules, the Associated Press has reported.

Drawing on its own investigation of the practice, the AP cited estimates that 5 percent to 10 percent of the 13,878 children enrolled in pediatric-AIDS studies financed by the National Institutes of Health since the