Panel: AIDS Study OK Despite Violations

because nothing would justify excluding them. What the hell is a scientific ethics panel.

WASHINGTON - Controversial U.S. research in Africa that violated federal patient protection rules was nevertheless conducted well enough to support its conclusions that the AIDS drug nevirapine could be used safely to protect babies from the disease, an expert scientific panel has concluded.

"The committee finds that there is no reason based in ethical concerns about the design or implementation of the study that would justify excluding its findings from use in scientific and policy deliberations," the Institute of Medicine Panel said in a report obtained by The Associated Press.