Also wrong: hurting puppies

Prompted by a New York Times story on a truly alarming development -- new recommendations by an influential federal panel to loosen the rules against testing pharmaceuticals on inmates -- Michael Nutter has come out against exposing prisoners to drugs in the latter stages of testing.

From his press release (which can be found on the NEW Next Mayor PR archive):

"This is about one thing, taking advantage of a vulnerable population – mostly black men," stated Nutter. "The City should refuse to allow drug companies to use its citizens for this purpose. It is completely immoral." Nutter suggested that "If drug companies really want to help prisoners, as they claim, they should provide funding for job training and medical services that the prisoners truly need."

While swinging at this softball, we wish Nutter had more directly gone after this statement by Ernest D. Prentice, who is, the Times says, "a University of Nebraska genetics professor and chairman of a Health and Human Services Department committee that requested the study":

"Prisoners are being arbitrarily excluded from research that can help them.”

Oh, that's what this is all about.

BTW, the story is datelined Philadelphia and, of course, refers to the history of drug testing at Holmesburg prison -- now re-opened to house some of Philly's swelling prison population.