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hehe OUR gov or CIA or any agency you fill in the letters ??? ....would NEVER do that..that's just them folks over there? you c? no not U.S.? http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/9722853/East-Germany-let-drugs-companys-use-its-citizens-as-guinea-pigs.html
East Germany let drugs companys use its citizens as guinea pigs
The East German communist state allowed Western pharmaceutical companies to use its citizens as human guinea pigs for secret clinical trials in return for hard currency, it has been revealed.
In the early 1980s the East German economy was suffering and the growing number of shortages also included medical supplies Photo: ALAMY
East Germany made millions of deutschemarks from the trade that ran for six
years and only came to an end with the collapse of the socialist state in
1990 despite the fact that some patients died during the trials.
The allegations of the use of unwitting human guinea pigs came in a
documentary called "Tote und Deaths" Death and Tests which was
aired on German television earlier this week.
Although the destruction of old East German health ministry files made it
impossible to determine the exact number of sick people involved, the
documentary estimated that over the years thousands were caught up the
deadly testing.
The trade came to light after journalists from the television company ARD were
given a jar of red and white pills dating back to 1989. It once belonged to
an East German called Gerhard Lehrer who had been given the drug after
suffering a heart attack, with doctors assuring him the pills were very
effective. Despite taking them, Mr Lehrer died.
His widow kept the jar and years later had the pills tested, only to find they
were a placebo.
ARD journalists found a file in the East German archives with a number
corresponding to that on the jar of pills, and that lifted the lid on the
practice of trading patients for money.
In the early 1980s the East German economy was suffering and the growing number of shortages also included medical supplies.
"There were pharmacies which could no longer provide 20 per cent of needed drugs," Christoph Friedrich, a pharmaceutical historian from the University of Marburg, told the documentary makers, "and that shortage extended to hospitals."
Salvation came in 1983 when a secret meeting of health officials decided to allow Western pharmaceutical companies to test drugs in East Germany. For the Western companies using East Germans as guinea pigs circumvented the rigorous testing regulations imposed upon them following the 1960s thalidomide scandal.
By 1988 165 test programmes were being carried out across the country.
In 1989 Hubert Bruchmuller was admitted to a specialist heart hospital in the town of Lostau and was given a new drug called Spirapril. During his stay at the hospital he saw one patient die from a heart attack in the bed beside him, and other patients in the same ward, he said, just seemed to disappear. Out of the 17 tested on at Lostau, six died.
The ARD journalists could find no documents indicating that any of the patients were aware that they were part of a clinical trial.
The pharmaceutical firms involved, some of which have since changed their names and company structures, said they had no knowledge of the testing.
In the early 1980s the East German economy was suffering and the growing number of shortages also included medical supplies.
"There were pharmacies which could no longer provide 20 per cent of needed drugs," Christoph Friedrich, a pharmaceutical historian from the University of Marburg, told the documentary makers, "and that shortage extended to hospitals."
Salvation came in 1983 when a secret meeting of health officials decided to allow Western pharmaceutical companies to test drugs in East Germany. For the Western companies using East Germans as guinea pigs circumvented the rigorous testing regulations imposed upon them following the 1960s thalidomide scandal.
By 1988 165 test programmes were being carried out across the country.
In 1989 Hubert Bruchmuller was admitted to a specialist heart hospital in the town of Lostau and was given a new drug called Spirapril. During his stay at the hospital he saw one patient die from a heart attack in the bed beside him, and other patients in the same ward, he said, just seemed to disappear. Out of the 17 tested on at Lostau, six died.
The ARD journalists could find no documents indicating that any of the patients were aware that they were part of a clinical trial.
The pharmaceutical firms involved, some of which have since changed their names and company structures, said they had no knowledge of the testing.
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