Mícheal Martin, Expected to refer report to Laffoy Commission
The Minister for Health and Children has referred a departmental report on clinical trials in children's homes to the Laffoy Commission on Child Abuse. Minister Mícheal Martin said that this route would guarantee against a cover up or whitewash of any kind. However, Fine Gael claims that the inquiry will be lost or delayed within the Laffoy Commission.
The long-awaited report reveals that it has not been possible to find documentation to confirm whether the trials were legal or conducted with consent. Three trials, on vaccines manufactured by the Wellcome company, were conducted on a total of 211 children, 123 of whom were resident in children's homes in Dublin, Cork and the Midlands.
The 40-page report is the result of an inquiry by the Department into three clinical trials of vaccines conducted on children in the 60s and 70s, many of whom were in institutions. Wellcome Laboratories in the UK manufactured the vaccines, including ones for diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis. The trials were led by the medical microbiologist Dr Irene Hillery, through the department of Medical Microbiology in University College Dublin.
The report assessed the propriety of these trials, and whether they were properly conducted, under the relevant law, the Therapeutic Substances Act of 1932. It says that it has not been possible to locate or identify documentation, from Wellcome or the institutions, which would confirm whether or not consent was given. Consent is a legal requirement of the Act. The report also casts doubt on whether medical officers in some of the institutions were entitled to give consent to clinical trials. It said that there was no information available for the second trial that the particular vaccines used received any import licence.
As regards the third trial, it said, the question of consent is unclear. The Fine Gael Health spokesman, Gay Mitchell, said that the report should initially be sent to the Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children instead of the Laffoy Commission. With powers to compel witnesses to attend, and records to be produced, the committee could fully investigate the matter, he said.
