Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Testing Drugs on India's Poor

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the pincushion-for-cash dept.

theodp writes to tell us Wired is reporting that a lot of medical research firms are using India's poor as a hot test bed. From the article: "The sudden influx of drug companies to India resembles the gold rush frontier, according to Sean Philpott, managing editor of The American Journal of Bioethics. 'Not only are research costs low, but there is a skilled work force to conduct the trials'"

7 of 531 comments (clear)

  1. Wait by nizo · · Score: 4, Funny

    So now we are outsourcing the jobs of lab animals to India?? And I shudder to think what the "No Indian testing" label will be in Europe (maybe a big hand patting a meditating guru on the head?)

    --
    I Am My Own Worst Enemy
    1. Re:Wait by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Are you kidding? The unemployment rate for lab rats will skyrocket! How are the poor rats supposed to feed their kids? WON'T SOMEBODY THINK OF THE RAT CHILDREN?

  2. Pff.. by iSeal · · Score: 4, Funny

    So first they took away our call centers... Then they took away our IT jobs... Now they're taking our priviledge to test dangerous drugs on the poor and destitute?

    Damn you trained and abled Indian workforce!

    1. Re:Pff.. by Surt · · Score: 4, Funny

      I have a (male) friend who did that too. As a bonus he can code faster than anyone I know using his third arm.

      --
      "Who is the Journal of Quantum Physics going to believe?" --Stephen Hawking
  3. outsourcing by jimbolauski · · Score: 4, Funny

    I guess India's poor cost less to test on the the US bunny rabbit, I for one can not believe companies would take away jobs from som many bunnies I can't even imagine how bunnies can take care of their large families.

    --
    Knowledge = Power
    P= W/t
    t=Money
    Money = Work/Knowledge so the less you know the more you make
  4. The Miracle of Birth: The Third World by Tackhead · · Score: 4, Funny
    > Wired is reporting that a lot of medical research firms are using India's poor as a hot test bed.

    The Miracle of Birth, Part 2: The Third World

    Mom: Come on, now. Out you go. Now, uh, Dalip, Bhim, Harinder, Ajit, Indra, Mandeep, it is being past your bedtime.
    Kids: Oh, mother!
    Mom: Now, not to be arguing! Lakshmi, Sita, Gita, Surinder...
    Dad: Wait! I have something to be telling whole family.
    Mom: Oh, quick - please to be going and getting the others in, Pradeep.
    Kids: What could it be being?
    Dad: The call center is closed! There is to be no more work. We are now to live among the untouchable.
    Kids: [whispering among themselves]
    Dad: Come in my little loves, I am having no option but to be selling you all for scientific experiments.

    (Dad goes on to blame the Anglican church for not standing up to the (bloody) Catholics (who are to be filling up the whole world with children they cannot afford to be bloody feeding) when it came to talking about contraception in the UN and WHO forums on overpopulation, and the whole family breaks out into song... You know the rest.)

    There are Jews in the world, there are Buddhists,
    Anglicans and Catholics, and then,
    There are those that outsource to Mohammed, but
    I've never been one of them...

  5. "Skilled work force"? by Hamster+Lover · · Score: 4, Funny

    Not only are research costs low, but there is a skilled work force to conduct the trials.

    Umm, so essentially their skill is they're sick and need drugs? Talk about a back handed compliment. Well, Rahim, you have just the skills we're looking for, Leprosy.