“We are not using Dominican children as guinea pigs,” declaims Dr Luis Rivera Mejia, the pediatrician in charge of the anti-diarrheal vaccine trials currently underway in Santo Domingo. He explained that 1,000 children have already been inoculated out of a target figure of 4,000. Commenting on the risks, which have led to some criticism of the initiative, he told El Caribe newspaper that “there would be no medicines in the world if we thought of possible side effects.” The vaccines have already gone through animal testing and controlled human testing, so that much of the risk has been precluded. “The country is lucky to have been selected in finding a solution to a problem that causes the death of half a million children worldwide every year,” said Rivera Mejia. He explained further that this vaccine is different from that which was withdrawn from the US system. The pediatrician conceded that there was a danger that Latin America could be used as a testing ground for risky medications, but that in the case of the DR all procedures were being conducted openly and rigorously, and that there was no danger to the children involved. The newspaper’s main editorial argues that, notwithstanding all the benefits, there are still aspects of this trial which merit some criticism. It states that a similar vaccine being tested in laboratory experiments in the US displayed side effects requiring surgical intervention. “Now, the trials are being done in the Third World,” forewarns the writer. He also asks why these clinical trials must be performed on Dominican children. “Why not Swiss, Japanese or German children? Perhaps because those countries’ authorities would not allow their children to be subjected to risky situations?” The columnist accepts that research is necessary for the advancement of science, but not, he says, with Dominican children. “The authorities here should ensure that only tried and tested medications are given to our children and that they should not be used as guinea pigs.” The editorial ends with the question, “How many of the government officials who approved the trial would allow their own children to take part?”