Brain tissue samples from infants who died of sudden infant death syndrome were used for research by the Health and Welfare Ministry's National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry without families' consent, Tokyo Metropolitan Government sources said Tuesday.
Brain tissue samples from infants who died of SIDS have been sent to the center by the Tokyo metropolitan government's Medical Examiner's Office for six years, with deliveries continuing even after a ministry panel decided in 1998 that permission from families is needed before body parts from deceased people can be used for research purposes, the sources said.
The examiner's office sent brain tissue samples from 31 infants to the center, located in Kodaira in west Tokyo, over the six-year period. The samples included ones taken from infants who died of causes other than SIDS, to provide researchers with a basis for comparison.
Meanwhile, officials at the examiner's office said they have discovered that while the brain tissue samples were sent for research into SIDS, some of them were actually used for research into Down syndrome, and that they have therefore requested the return of the samples.
A doctor at the examiner's office is believed to have received about 200,000 yen from the center in connection with the sending of the tissue samples in 1995, apparently as payment.
The ministry panel decided when it issued its guidelines on use of human body parts in research that they should be provided free to research institutes.