Two Calcutta doctors hired by American researchers secretly inserted antibiotic pellets into the wombs of 790 poor women to test their efficacy as a contraceptive, a newspaper has revealed.
The trials with erythromycin, an antibiotic normally administered orally to treat respiratory infections like bronchitis, are unthinkable in western nations.
They were conducted in Calcutta clinics between August 1999 and October 2002 and the findings published in the international journal, Contraception.
The report in the Anand Bazar Patrika newspaper quoted experts as saying the experiment was 'unethical and violated human rights, including the right to life'.
Fortunately, there was no negative effect on the young married women, although the experiment failed and 35 per cent of them became pregnant.
But the report sparked outrage, with doctors and activists urging Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee to enact laws to eradicate 'unethical, exploitative and highly-degrading' clinical trials.
Activists said the US-based researchers and their local collaborators would go unpunished because there was no law in India prohibiting medical experiments without prior approval by an authority.