Retractable Syringe trial putting young people at risk

Injecting drug users, including young people, will continue to be put at risk by Michael Wooldridge’s trial of Retractable Syringes in Australia’s Needle and Syringe Programs.

The trial of Retractable Syringes at Sydney’s Kirketon Road Centre is set to continue after the ethics committee overseeing the trial dismissed a complaint into the conduct of the trial.

The Darwin chapter of the Network Against Prohibition submitted a complaint on the 17th of August to the Human Research Ethics Committee of the South Eastern Sydney Area Health Service outlining major concerns about the trial.

The concerns included the fact that volunteers in the Trial are being asked to test this experimental medical device on themselves, without adequate supervision or facilities and that the private company conducting the trial, the Research Forum, failed to warn participants of possible harms associated with injecting drug use such as vein collapse, complications associated with injecting into arteries, "dirty hits", impact on the immune system, overdose and the risk of arrest and incarceration by police.

Trial documentation reveals that there are no safeguards to prevent young people from participating in the trial or accessing these experimental retractable syringes when they inevitably find their way onto the streets.

In their complaint, The Network Against Prohibition argued that the trial breaches the Nuremberg Code, drawn up in 1946 during the Nuremberg Trials, in which 23 Nazi physicians went on trial for crimes committed against prisoners of war.

Professor Terry Bolin, chairperson of the ethics committee, told NAP that the committee “agree that the study is not in breach of the Nuremberg Code” and that “The Committee feel that no further investigation is necessary and therefore no action will be taken in this matter.”

NAP Spokesperson Gary Meyerhoff said “We are appalled that the ethics committee have not taken our concerns seriously. The trial of retractable syringes is being conducted at the behest of business interests, including Ritract, the Australian company lucky enough to have former health minister Michael Wooldridge on its staff.”

Meyerhoff said “We will continue in our attempts to have this dangerous profit driven trial abandoned and to have the corrupt Michael Wooldridge brought to justice.”

The Network Against Prohibition will be asking the ethics committee to review its decision and will also lodge a complaint with the Therapeutic Goods Administration.

Complaints will be lodged with the ethics committee that approved the Victorian component of the trial. Retractable Syringes are being trialled at two locations in Victoria; Melbourne Inner-city Needle Exchange (MINE) in Collingwood and Southern Hepatitis, HIV/AIDS Resource & Prevention Service (SHARPS) in Frankston.

For more information or to arrange an interview call NAP’s Gary Meyerhoff on 0415 16 2525 or the chairperson of the ethics committee Professor Terry Bolin on (02) 93823587.

Further information on Retractable Syringes can be found at: http://www.napnt.org/arse/syringegate.html