Incarnation Children's Center
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Incarnation Children's Center (ICC) is a nursing facility for children living with HIV in New York City. From 1989 until 2000 the center operated as a foster care boarding home; since then it has concentrated on providing medical care. The ICC is a non-profit corporation affiliated with the Archdiocese of New York and Columbia University.
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[edit] Clinical trials
Between 1993 and 2002 around 60 children 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. The results of these trials contributed to the approval of new therapies for HIV-positive children.[1]
[edit] Abuse allegations
In 2004, the AIDS dissident journalist Liam Scheff alleged that the ICC was abusing children by force-feeding them potentially toxic HIV medications. He suggested that children who received these medications became ill when they might otherwise have remained healthy.[2] The story was later investigated by The Guardian and other mainstream news sources.[3]
Staff at the center have vehemently denied claims of mistreatment, asserting that all trials were well run and highly beneficial to the children.[4] The New York State Department of Health has found that none of the abuse allegations has been 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 Scheff's story as "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, ironically, there is "little evidence that the trials were anything but a medical success", and dramatically reduced death rates among children with HIV.[4]
In early 2007 a group of prominent scientists and AIDS activists, including Mark Wainberg, demanded a retraction and apology from the BBC, which made a television documentary about the ICC based on Scheff's reporting. The group said that the BBC program was "inflammatory, deceptive, error-filled and dangerous".[6]
[edit] External links
[edit] References
- ^ ICC statement
- ^ The House That AIDS Built
- ^ "UK firm tried HIV drug on orphans", by Anthony Barnett. Published in The Guardian April 4, 2004. Accessed 16 Feb 2007.
- ^ a b Belated Charge Ignites Furor Over AIDS Drug Trial, New York Times.
- ^ New York State Department of Health letter
- ^ AIDS Activists and Scientists File Complaint Against the BBC over HIV Disinformation.
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