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12/21/2005:

"US Research 'Endangered Amazon Villagers'"

Health officials in Brazil have launched an investigation after claims that at least 10 impoverished Brazilians from an Amazon village may have contracted malaria while being used as human "guinea pigs" during a study by an American university.

The $1m (£570,000) research project, funded by the National Institutes of Health and conducted by the University of Florida, was being carried out in three villages on the Matapi river in the northern state of Amapa. It intended to study feeding patterns among mosquitoes over a four-year period in order to help control malaria outbreaks.

But critics say villagers were manipulated into taking part in the project and that those who allegedly contracted malaria as a result were offered no medical treatment. Brazil's Medical Council suspended the project last Wednesday following the allegations.

Villagers in Sao Raimundo da Pirativa, Sao Joao and Santo Antonio were paid between R$12 and R$20 (£3-£5) to collect mosquitoes on their bodies, while some were required to expose themselves to mosquito bites for periods of up to six hours.
commondreams.org