So what's been happening lately is this: companies are testing drugs and other potentially hazardous products on people in non-industrialized countries because they aren't allowed to do this in North America. They do this because it is a simple solution to their problem of finding sujects, it is relatively inexpensive, and they can get away with it superbly.
One of the more publicized cases of this is that of the injectable contraceptive Depo-Provera, which is a synthetic hormone originally produced for women in 'developing' countries. Thought ideal because it requires only one injection every few months and since health services are, shall we say, lacking, it seemed beautifully simple to just line the women up and give 'em a shot each in the arm. This scheme became even more beautifully simple because it wasn't necessary to tell the women any more about what they were taking than the fact that it was birth control. The drug's name wasn't even especiallly important to reveal, which was good because soemtimes those administering it didn't know which drug they were using--as was the case in Bangladesh, where Depo-Provera has been used for over a decade before it was approved by the FDA. Not only do Depo-Provera and its relatives have a dubious past, but its future is just as shady: in Central America, contraceptive shots are forced upon young factory workers by owners who don't want to pay for maternity leaves. They are told that these are flu shots or something equally innocuous.
Depo-Provera is even causing problems in North America now. It has been linked to osteoporosis, hair loss, weight gain, severe acne, depression, tiredness, nervousness, dizziness, heavy or irregular flow, blood clots and long-term infertility, as well as possibly breast and cervical cancer.
In the United States, an early marketing campaign targeted young black women with low incomes-- a group no one wanted to see reproducing. Depo-Provera was also liberally distributed by Indian Health Services in 1986 to Navajo (Dine) women, before it was federally approved. Here too, women were uninformed and pressed to take the drug. No one seems to know exactly how this happened.
Norplant is a contraceptive in which progestin-filled silicone capsules are placed under the skin and it is effective for up to five years, at which point the implant must be removed. Already it is said that one woman has died from complications experienced during the difficult removing procedure. Side effects include irregular bleeding, weight gain or loss, headaches, mood swings, hair loss, and it can cause ovarian cysts. In addition, Norplant is not recommended for women who smoke, have diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or who are overweight. 50,000 women have already launched a lawsuit against makers of Norplant for causing physical and emotional harm.
Now there is a plan to make Norplant available in the inner-city schools of Maryland, and this causes a variety of problems which everyone from Baptist ministers to safe-sex advocates point out.
These drugs have already been pushed upon thousands of women who were never informed of their dangers, using methods that are racist, classist and sexist. Though we say that colonial times are long gone, it's hard to believe when we look at how corporate powers use and manipulate people of other cultures in ways that they would never be allowed to treat white men. There are men who still constantly presume to tell women how they should deal with their bodies-- middle class white women as surely as anyone else--and it is still completely unacceptable. So don't stand for it.