London: A UK MP has demanded an inquiry into a 1969 medical study on iron absorption under which 21 Indian-origin women, many of them pregnant, were fed chapatis containing radioactive isotopes in a city in central England.
Taiwo Owatemi, Labour MP for Coventry North West, said this week that she would be calling for a parliamentary debate on the issue in September, followed by “a full statutory inquiry”.
“I am appalled and concerned about the information shared regarding the 1969 ‘Chapati’ study using South Asian women from Coventry. My foremost concern is for the women and the families of those who were experimented on in this study,” Owatemi said in a statement.
Under a nutrition experiment funded by Britain’s Medical Research Council (MRC) in 1969, chapatis containing Iron-59 (an iron isotope with a gamma-beta emitter) were delivered every morning to the women who were then recent immigrants in Coventry.
Most of them were from Punjab and Gujarat, and spoke very little English, local media reports said.
According to Owatemi, a researcher from University of Warwick seeking to identify these women, told her that neither their consent was sought nor any proper information was given to them at the time they took part in the experiment.
“This is horrifying, and I am deeply disturbed that a community here in Coventry was targeted for research without them being able to give informed consent,” she said.
The researchers conducted the study after they suspected that South Asian diets were to blame for widespread iron deficiency in these women.
These women were then taken to the Atomic Energy Research Establishment in Oxfordshire where their radiation levels were measured after consuming chapatis.
An inquiry report was commissioned in 1998 in response to a 1995 Channel 4 documentary, which raised concerns about participants, including pregnant women, being able to consent to the experiments, the BBC reported.
“A serious attempt was made to inform study participants effectively. (However) it is possible that, despite the best intentions of the research team, full details of the study were not grasped by the women involved,” the inquiry report had stated.
It was reported in 1995 that about 21 women were involved in the experiment conducted by Prof Peter Elwood from Cardiff University and funded by the MRC.
“I am equally appalled that it seems no follow up morbidity study was performed by Dr Elwood on the participants of the research to look at the long-term medical effects on the women,” the Labour MP said.
In an online statement posted on Wednesday, the MRC said it remained committed to the highest standards, including “commitment to engagement, openness and transparency”.
“The issues were considered following the broadcast of the documentary in 1995 and an independent inquiry was established at that time to examine the questions raised,” the MRC said.
Owatemi said she will be calling for a debate on this as soon as possible after Parliament returns in September followed by a full Statutory Inquiry into how this was allowed to happen.
In addition, she will ask why “the recommendation of the MRC report to identify the women was never followed up”.
–IANS