Up to 300 babies housed in Irish care homes in the 60s and 70s were used in medical trials, according to new reports.
According to Newstalk, 298 babies at homes in Dublin, Cork, Westmeath and Meath were used in experimental vaccine trials and it is believed that 80 children became ill after they were accidentally administered a vaccine intended for cattle.
The revelations were uncovered by pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline after it bought one of the laboratories involved. While further details around the trials are not yet known, Sister Sarto, a former social worker at a home in Cork, insisted that parents gave permission for the experiments.
“The doctor would come here and say could they carry out this experiment, and the mothers would bring the child into the doctor’s. You couldn’t do it without the mother’s permission.”
