49 baby deaths trigger India drug trial query

Since January 2006, 49 babies have died out of 4,142 who were enrolled in clinical trials at the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences in Delhi, a highly-regarded public hospital which provides care for low-income families. Although the mortality rate for the infants was lower than for the rest of the facility's patient population, 1.2% versus 4%, the number of children and the fact that most of them were less than one year old has provoked a political outcry.

Manish Tiwari, a Congress Party spokesperson, said: "the practice of using infants like guinea pigs for drug testing must end," in response to a report by the Uday Foundation for Congenital Defects and Rare Blood Groups, which compiled the data.

However, the AIIMS responded by noting that it was not clear how many of the infants had been given drugs and how many were in placebo or control groups. He told the UK's Times newspaper that "many of these babies were very ill."