CHEMICAL GIANT PAID STUDENTS TO DRINK PESTICIDES: 
U.S. SEEKS REASONS WHY HUMANS USED TO TEST TOXIN LABELLED 'HIGHLY HAZARDOUS'
 
Bayer CropScience,  of Monheim,  Germany.   one  of  the  world's
biggest chemicals companies,  faces an inquiry after it was found
to have used students to  test  a  "highly  hazardous"  pesticide
linked  to  serious  disorders.   The story says that the company
paid students,  mostly from Heriot-Watt University in  Edinburgh,
$1,100 each to consume fruit juice laced with the pesticide.  The
project,  the fine detail of which is secret,  has been condemned
in the U.S.  as unscientific and unethical.   Lawyers  point  out
that  the  Nuremberg  Code,  formulated after the Nazis'  wartime
experiments,  bans  the  use  of  humans  for  testing  poisonous
substances that have no medical application.  

Bayer  is the daughter company of IG Farben,  the manufacturer of
Zyklon B, the gas used in Nazi extermination camps.  

Bayer is using the results of the study,  conducted between  1998
and  2000,  to support an argument that restrictions on pesticide
use should be eased,  because no immediate adverse  effects  were
suffered.  

The  story says that groups of up to 16 volunteers were housed at
a  privately  run  research   centre   in   Edinburgh   and   fed
azinphos-methyl  (AM),  an organophosphate chemical.  The dosages
have not been  disclosed.   The  World  Health  Organization  has
classified AM as "highly hazardous."  Exposure to it is linked to
blood  and  nervous  system  problems.   The  dangers  are   well
documented.   Accidental  ingestion  by 42 Peruvian children last
year led to 24 deaths,  and recent spillages of the chemical into
rivers in Prince Edward Island have killed 15,000 fish.  

The  story  adds  that  although  Bayer  has  not  checked on the
subsequent health of its human  guinea  pigs,  it  is  using  the
research to try to persuade the American Environmental Protection
Agency  to  raise  the  levels  of AM it allows farmers to use on
crops.  The agency is concerned about the conduct of the  studies
and  has  referred  them  to  an  expert  panel  of the respected
National Academy of Sciences (NAS).  The panel  is  demanding  to
know exactly how the unpublished trial was conducted.  The agency
said  last  week  that  10  of  17 studies it is examining are in
Britain and involve Inveresk,  a contract research  company  "The
NAS  has until December to give an opinion on whether these human
studies  are  ethically  and  scientifically  valid,"  an  agency
spokesman  said.   Nobody from Inveresk was available for comment
yesterday.  Bayer  said  its  studies  were  performed  "in  full
accordance   with  national  and  international  regulations  and
standards." 

January 12,  2003,  The Ottawa Citizen Lois Rogers,  Source:  The
Times, London