Kelly Bourdet
Bio
Senior Editor at Vocativ. Obsessed with Isaac Asimov, almond butter, and hiking in upstate New York.
Stories (1/0)
Robert Helms 'Guinea Pig Zero'
Our country’s pharmaceutical industry demands rigorous testing of potential drug agents, human trials that sometimes drag on for weeks or months. Test subjects must often monotonously return to get blood drawn, abstain from normal activity, or keep meticulous notes about their side effects. But, at the end of the trial, it’s a quick couple thousand dollars in your pocket. This is precisely the kind of work that draws those on the margins of society, those who are willing to dose themselves with the latest psychiatric concoction and live in a confined clinic for a few weeks. And we need them—these guinea pigs. Without reliable test subjects, America doesn’t get its drugs.
By Kelly Bourdet7 years ago in Futurism