Senator slams Scots scientists for testing toxic pesticides on humans – [Sunday Herald] — How does stuff like this get so hushed up? Where is the American press? This has all the elements of a big story — if for no other reason than to chide the Europeans. I’m guessing something was going on in the USA or Canada too.

Inveresk carried out at least five pesticide experiments between 1998 and 1999. Volunteers were asked to swallow a capsule which contained pesticide and their reactions monitored.

The Sunday Herald first revealed one of the tests in 2002. Bruce Turnbull, 54, from Leith, was one of 50 subjects tested with the harmful pesticide azinphos-methyl in 1998 at the lab. Azinphos-methyl has been described by the US government as posing “a high degree of risk to agricultural workers, as well as significant acute ecological risks”, with several farm workers reporting toxic reactions after coming into contact with it.

Turnbull believes he has suffered long-term health problems because of the test, which he was told at the time “would help farmers”. He received no follow-up medical checks.

Azinphos-methyl is made by German company Bayer, and is not permitted for use on crops in the UK. Bayer’s parent company developed azinphos-methyl during the second world war as a nerve gas.

Senator Barbara Boxer and Representative Henry Waxman examined 22 pesticide tests that had been carried out on human guinea pigs — 11 of the studies were done in the UK, and at least five of those at the Inveresk laboratory.

found in Scotland E. Campbell