Anti-Aids drugs 'tested on foster children'

Claims that abandoned children were used as guinea pigs for the testing of anti-Aids drugs should be investigated, officials in New York have said.

About 50 HIV-infected children, some as young as three-months-old, were given high doses of the drugs while in care at a foster home, according to a report.

Some 13 studies were conducted in the late 1990s and one involved giving foster children a combination of six powerful Aids drugs, the New York Post claimed.

The tests were allegedly carried out on youngsters at Manhattan's Incarnation Children's Centre (ICC), an agency run by the Archdiocese of New York.

And there are fears that some of the children may have been harmed during the studies, said to have been conducted by doctors from Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Centre.

The experiments were halted in 2002 and Columbia-Presbyterian stopped its operation at ICC.

Three New York city councillors demanded answers about the claims.

Bill DiBlasio, chairman of the city's General Welfare Committee, said there may be public hearings to probe the allegations. He said it was "crucial" for "full disclosure" from the city's Administration for Children Services (ACS), which his committee oversees.

"We need to find out what happened to these kids," he said.

Another city councillor, Bill Perkins, said stories were circulating in the black community about children being taken away from their parents by ACS and used in the studies.

"I think the council needs to take aggressive steps to put this in check," he said.

"Clearly, no one knows what's going on. We need to call for a public hearing on this."

The third councillor, Josi Serrano, said the claims were "disturbing".

"It's an outrage to think that they would use children in foster care who have already come from abusive situations," he said.

Possible side effects to the drugs used in the tests include liver damage, tumours and anaemia.

ICC, which was established in 1989 to care for abandoned HIV-infected children, declined to comment.

No-one at ACS was available for comment.