Walking Test Tubes

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John Climax, whose Dublin-based company, Icon, helps drug companies set up trials in Latin America, summed it up: 'You walk into a hospital in Latin America and immediately see this horrible place. . . . But from a clinical trial point of view, you can find patients and the doctors are excellent.' A gold mine for drug companies perhaps, but the export of clinical trials overseas is often an added burden on the sick and poor of the developing world.

Sonia Shah is the author of the new book The Body Hunters: Testing New Drugs on the World's Poorest Patients (New Press, 2006). Reprinted from NACLA Report on the Americas (March/April 2006). Subscriptions: $36/yr. (6 issues) from Box 77, Hopewell, PA 16650; www.nacla.org.

Conditional Love
Parents who conceive biologically have to leave a baby's sex up to nature. Adoptive parents, however, sometimes get a choice, and when they do, some 80 percent of them pick girls, leaving long waits for boys who need homes. According to Adoptive Families (March/April 2006), rationales vary: Families that already have boys frequently want to adopt a girl, while families with girls tend to want to keep the peace with another girl. Many adoption agencies won't accommodate a sex request and are uncomfortable placing a 'second choice' child with a parent who has expressed a strong preference. In the end, most parents who thought they had a preference don't know they're putting boys at a disadvantage and don't care what sex the baby is once it reaches their doorstep. 'There was a little boy waiting for us,' one parent told Adoptive Families, 'and we loved him so much. Having a girl seemed much less important than adopting this child.'

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