Opinion Trial errors
A report in CPMs Peoples Democracy focuses on clinical trials on human subjects in India.
A report in CPMs Peoples Democracy focuses on clinical trials on human subjects in India. It says there have been reports about deaths of trial subjects in AIIMS in 2008,and gross ethical violations have been alleged in trials of a vaccine to prevent cervical cancer among adolescent girls in Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat this year.
The boom in clinical trials,it says,can be explained by Indias incapacity to regulate them. Companies are rushing to India to conduct trials which they would have problems in justifying in their home countries. This is happening in a situation where most patients in India are vulnerable because they have poor or no access to public health facilities, it says.
Poor,vulnerable patients sign up for trials as they see this as the only opportunity to access healthcare. The story notes there has been a mushrooming of clinical research organisations (CROs) and site management organisations (SMOs).
It asks drug regulatory authorities and the Indian Council of Medical Research to step in to ensure transparency,ethics and quality in clinical research. Better regulation with a larger regulatory capacity and resources can ensure this. There is also an urgent need that CROs and SMOs be regulated and perhaps phased out of the entire system of conducting clinical research in the country, it says.
Maoists no better
CPIs weekly,New Age,carries a write-up on Maoists in Bengal. It says the rebels are losing ground in West Midnapore in the face of resistance from the locals.
It analyses why such a reaction to pro-poor Maoist activism has occurred. The reasons for the turnaround,it says,are that the tribals are fewer in number in Maoist-affected districts in Bengal and their exploitation had never reached the levels seen in,say,Orissas Kalahandi. The anti-Maoist backlash is also because,it says,of the strong-arm tactics employed by organisations like the PCPA.
Many parts of these districts remain economically barren and backward,for which the state government must answer… But the tribals in Bengal are still better off socially than anywhere else in India… The tribals as well as the poor were angry over non-development,but their resentment didnt set them apart from other hapless citizens elsewhere,it was a shared feeling against the state government, it says.
Noting the trend spells concern for the Maoists,the article says : if Midnapore rejects the CPM for its failure to improve the economy and bring development,it is not going to accept another spell of tyranny from a different party with a similar Marxist nomenclature,Maoist or otherwise.
Israels dangers
An editorial in the CPMs Malayalam daily,Deshabhimani,notes Mani Shankar Aiyars recent observations on Palestine. It says the UPA government is showing unusual keenness to strengthen Indias ties with Israel,reversing foreign policy traditions. It talks about a recent conference on Palestine in Delhi,where Aiyar rubbed shoulders with Left leaders like Prakash Karat and A.B. Bardhan. Aiyar has endorsed the view that the government is deviating from Indias long-held position on Palestine. Rarely does a Congress leaders statement find such positive mention in a CPM publication.
The editorial reiterates the CPMs line that the UPA government should stop military cooperation with Tel Aviv and argues there was an impression among Kashmiris that Delhi was seeking Israels advice on the situation there. The deepening cooperation with Israel is one reason for the strong anti-Central government sentiment in Kashmir, it says.
Compiled by Manoj C.G.
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