As of: March 13, 2024, 4:52 p.m
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The main building on the site of the former Aprath Clinic.
© Oliver Berg/dpa
For almost two years now, North Rhine-Westphalia has been conducting a study into the misuse of medicines on children in care and deportation.
A frightening situation now exists.
Düsseldorf - According to preliminary results of a study, drug tests were carried out on deported and institutionalized children in clinics and other facilities in North Rhine-Westphalia between 1946 and 1980.
According to the research team's initial findings, the suspicion that the misuse of medication could be proven has been confirmed, said State Secretary Matthias Heidmeier on Wednesday in the state parliament's health committee.
Corresponding reports and descriptions from those affected could be confirmed as accurate.
The state government wants to comprehensively clarify what happened at the time.
“We owe this to the victims, some of whom are still suffering today.”
The final results of the study are scheduled to be presented at the beginning of 2025.
“When the results of the study are available, we will have to look at them carefully and examine how we can better support the victims,” said North Rhine-Westphalia Health Minister Karl-Josef Laumann (CDU), who was unable to attend the meeting.
The North Rhine-Westphalia Ministry commissioned the study in the summer of 2022 to examine the abusive use of medication in children and adolescents.
According to the ministry, the improper administration of medication to children in institutions was intertwined and complex.
Department head Markus Leßmann emphasized that the connection with violent practices and sexualized violence in particular appears to be more extensive than previously assumed.
According to the information, there has been evidence of trials with vaccines on children and adolescents for facilities in Wuppertal, Duisburg and Düsseldorf.
These were “test vaccinations” of new batches of smallpox vaccines freshly obtained from animals using the technology of the time, said Leßmann.
It was about comparing the vaccination techniques between injection or cutting.
The trial vaccinations were apparently primarily carried out on children in orphanages.
The state vaccination center at the time was also involved in the experiments.
The researchers also consider the testing of new active ingredients on children at the then Aprath tuberculosis hospital near Wülfrath to be proven.
There, children were also given sedatives so that they remained calm during the so-called lying cures.
According to research, the sleeping pill Contergan or its active ingredient thalidomide was also tested in Aprath in 1956 - a year before its market launch.
The scientists use a contemporary witness portal to search for possible victims of drug tests in institutions.
The committee chairman Josef Neumann said that there needed to be transparency into what was happening in the facilities at the time.
Perpetrators and crimes must be clearly identified so that the victims can regain their dignity.
dpa