Recent revelations that Black, Latino and Native American subjects are used disproportionately in vaccine tests are a cause for concern. The reasons for concern are obvious: institutional racism, past abuses and the vulnerability of the poor who need help.

While Americans of all races, ethnic groups and income levels benefit from vaccines which stop the spread of diseases, at least eight out of 14 vaccines approved in the United States since 1990 were tested disproportionately among lower-income minority group members, according to a late December report in San Jose Mercury News. Defenders of the tests say the vaccines are tested on populations that will benefit most from them, and no sinister motives are present.

It�s interesting that when it comes to making sure that vaccines are safe, non-whites are the first hired. Yet, when it comes to needed medical services, these same groups lag behind, and in many areas the Black-white health disparity exists despite income. There have even been studies that show Blacks received fewer painkillers than whites, let alone received equal treatment.

Previous news reports and a new book called "The River" document how the areas of Africa most devastated by AIDS match the sites where western agencies used an oral polio vaccine in the 1950s. In America, the Tuskegee Experiment allowed Black men to suffer from and spread syphilis while the federal health officials watched and catalogued the results.

In the 1950s, a polio vaccine for children was found to be contaminated by SV-40, which caused cancer in some animals. It hasn�t been proven that people who got SV-40 with their polio vaccine ended up with cancer but the whole idea of contaminated vaccines is scary.

Where is the Food and Drug Administration in all of this? Although some medical professionals fear contaminated vaccines still carry deadly ailments, others disagree but readily admit the current system for testing vaccines has problems. It�s easy to get vulnerable groups to sign "consent forms"�just tell them everything is basically OK and promise treatment, they say.