Between 1993 and 2002, approximately 60 children with HIV/AIDS at the ICC took part in clinical trials sponsored by the National Institutes of Health to test the efficacy of antiretroviral medication, alongside thousands of other children across the United States.
[1] In 2004, AIDS denialist Liam Scheff alleged on his blog, and later in an article in Hustler, that the ICC was abusing HIV-positive children enrolled on clinical trials by forcing them to take HIV medications, suggesting that children became ill when they might otherwise have remained healthy.[2]
The story was later investigated by The Guardian,[3] while the BBC financed and aired a documentary entitled Guinea Pig Kids, echoing the charges against Incarnation Children's Center.[4]
Staff at the center vehemently denied the allegations of mistreatment, arguing that all trials were properly run and beneficial to the children.[4] The New York State Department of Health investigated and concluded that none of the abuse allegations were substantiated, and that the source of the accusations "appears to be a group of individuals holding the view that HIV does not cause AIDS—a view discredited by scientific and medical consensus around the world."[5]
The New York Times described the allegations against ICC as "given by a single writer about people not identified by real names, backed up with no official documentation as supporting proof, and put out on the Internet in early 2004 after the author was unable to get the story published anywhere else." The Times further noted that there is "little evidence that the trials were anything but a medical success" and dramatically reduced death rates among children with HIV.[4]
Subsequently, an independent investigation by the Vera Institute of Justice concluded that no "children died as a result of the trials or that the foster children were selected because of their race", as had been alleged.[6]
However, the New York State Department of Health cited confidentiality laws in limiting Vera's ability to review clinical trial research or medical records.[7]
