On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we take a look at a modern day conspiracy theory that turns out to be true—the AIDS drug trials conducted on foster children. These were a series of as many as 48 different trials spread through seven different states in the US. They were very dangerous Phase I and Phase II drug trials that were performed on children with AIDS or HIV. The really nasty part is that many of the kids didn’t have any legal advocate, and when they wanted to stop the drug trials, they weren’t allowed. Some were even force fed with feeding tubes surgically inserted into their stomachs.

This story came out in 2005 thanks to reporting done by Jamie Doran of the BBC (see show notes below for the Guinea Pigs documentary link) and John Solomon from the Associate Press. While the trials were done on children in multiple locations, the worst of it was in New York City. Thanks to then Mayor Giuliani, a group called the Administration for Children's Services (ACS) was created. This monster of an organization was gifted with the power to take children away from parents for simply refusing medical treatment. And they did.

In the 1990s, they started to take away infected children from biological and legal parents simply for not giving them dangerous, sometimes untested drugs. Not giving them the drugs made them “abusive” parents, so the kids were taken from them and placed in foster homes such as the Catholic church owned Incarnation Children’s Center. From the Catholic group home to prestigious research hospitals to academic institutions and the giant pharma companies, everyone was complicit.

They denied children their legal rights, took them from their parents, and filled their bodies with Black Label, dangerous drugs. How many kids were involved? What percent were foster kids? What legal protections do parents have against getting their kids taken away? What happened to the kind-hearted nurse who tried to help? Listen, laugh, learn.

Visit Our Sources:

Guinea Pigs BBC Documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2ScDCIDYJI

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/7736157/ns/health-aids/t/government-tested-aids-drugs-foster-kids/#.Xkhg6yhKg2w

http://www.natap.org/2005/newsUpdates/062005_02.htm

https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4669470

https://ahrp.org/2004-a-national-scandal-aids-drug-experiments-on-children-in-foster-care/

https://ahrp.org/aids-drug-vaccine-experiments-on-foster-children/