Brasília - There are reports that the inhabitants of a riverside village, São Raimundo do Pirativa, located some 20 kilometers from Macapá, capital of Amapá, are being used as human guinea pigs in malaria experiments. The study is coordinated by professor Robert Zimmerman, from the Department of Entomology at the University of Florida. Also participating are a number of Brazilian researchers: Mércia Arruda, from the Department of Immunology at the Amazonas Research Center (CpqAM); Allan Kardec Gallardo, from Brazil's Health Institute (Fundação Nacional de Saúde) (Funasa); and others from the Department of Entomology at the University of São Paulo (USP).

Today the chairman of the Senate Human Rights Commission, Cristovam Buarque (PDT-DF), is scheduled to arrive in Amapá to investigate the charges.

Translatio: Allen Bennett