Health Care Inequities Lead To A Mistrust Of Research

OVERCOMPENSATION: Atoning for wrongs led to exclusion of minorities, notes Robert F. Murray, Jr. Minority Americans' mistrust of science, fostered in large part by the notorious Tuskegee study and advanced by inequities in health care, continues today, according to observers. While hard evidence is lacking, many scientists believe that bad feelings make it difficult for them to recruit minorities as participants in biomedical research studies in such areas as cancer and AIDS. Others say that

Written byThomas Durso

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OVERCOMPENSATION: Atoning for wrongs led to exclusion of minorities, notes Robert F. Murray, Jr.

Minority Americans' mistrust of science, fostered in large part by the notorious Tuskegee study and advanced by inequities in health care, continues today, according to observers. While hard evidence is lacking, many scientists believe that bad feelings make it difficult for them to recruit minorities as participants in biomedical research studies in such areas as cancer and AIDS.

Others say that while minorities' attitudes are changing, much more examination is needed to pinpoint exactly how they feel about science and research. This concern comes at a time when the National Institutes of Health, via its Revitalization Act of 1993, has ordered the adequate representation of women, minorities, and racial and ethnic subgroups in studies it funds (M.E. Watanabe, The Scientist, March 6, 1995, page 14).

"With the minority community, particularly the African American community, what pops ...

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