The doctor who led vaccination trials on children in institutions more than 30 years ago said yesterday the trials were not done for financial gain or carried out without consent. Prof Irene Hillary issued a statement a day after the publication of a report on three vaccine trials carried out on almost 200 children, 118 of them in children's homes, in the 1960s and 1970s.
The report has been referred by the Minister for Health, Mr Martin, to the Laffoy Commission on Child Abuse. Prof Hillary said she would attend the investigation to answer any questions. She was also willing to appear before the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children. She claimed no child was put at risk or suffered illness or disease as a result of the trials, which included a low-dose three-in-one vaccine. However, the current health status of most of the children is unknown.
"The first trial was conducted in mother-and-baby homes because, and only because, they provided a setting in which a number of babies were living in one place, and as such were in a common environment and under nursing supervision," she said.
The results of this and a second trial were published and widely discussed at the time. "There was never any question of secrecy about them." Results of the third trial were not published, she said, because they were not significant.
"I have had no motivation other than the ambition to defeat infectious disease. It has been suggested that some of the trials which are now the subject of controversy were conducted for reasons of commercial gain. In so far as I am concerned, I can say absolutely that I never received any fees, nor made any commercial gain, as a result of any of the research I have done," she said.
"I must say also that I have never, and would never, participate in any study or trial where trauma, hardship, suffering or even discomfort was inflicted on a baby, a child, or an adult. The statements contained in some reports that suggest otherwise have been offensive and extremely painful to read. I am a mother as well as a doctor and I am a person who believes passionately in the prevention of suffering.
"In addition, I believe strongly in the principle of consent. I have never, and would never, participate in any study without appropriate permission or consent, either from the person, or, in the case of a child, from a parent, guardian, or person acting in loco parentis," she added.
Mr Martin said he was not satisfied there was evidence of "solid informed consent". He described the lack of documentation relating to the trials as puzzling and unsatisfactory.
Prof Hillary, who was head of the National Virus Reference Laboratory at UCD, said she became involved in trials in an attempt to fight diseases such as polio and rubella.