Culture

Medical tests: no laughing matter

March 26, 2009
Body fluids: contributing, in some vague way, to the sum of human knowledge
Body fluids: contributing, in some vague way, to the sum of human knowledge

As an epidemiologist who's treated thousands of sex workers in Indonesia and East Timor, Elizabeth Pisani thought she'd seen it all. Until she signed herself up to "Biobank"—a baffling British medical survey.

When Pisani's own patients give blood samples, they at least get their choice of lipstick, a bag of condoms and the opportunity to return free treatment if they need it. With Biobank, however, Pisani had to sign away her rights to find out anything about her blood and urine test results—even if they contained information that could save her life—and was expected to walk away happy with nothing more than the knowledge that she'd "contributed to the greater good of science."

Surely, she asks, a £62m project should do better than this?