Do Killers Make Medicine

Description

الشرح

During the Iraq war, about 3000 American soldiers were infected with cutaneous leishmaniasis; a skin infection caused by a single-celled parasite that is transmitted by the bite of a phlebotomine sandfly. This prompted the US defence ministry to commission Teva Pharmaceuticals; an American Israeli pharmaceutical company to develop a cure for this infection.

‘Do Killers make medicine’ investigates the human experiments conducted by the pharmaceutical company to test the successfulness of ‘Paromomycin’; an antimicrobial used as a treatment for skin infection.

The documentary explores how the poverty-stricken city of Sidi Bouzid, the cradle of the Tunisian revolution, became the source of minors that were willing to risk their health and become testing guinea pigs for a mere 50 Tunisian dinars. Additionally, and in spite of testimonies and documents that reflect the conducting of the experiments, both the Tunisian Ministry of Health and the Tunisian state refuse to take responsibility for these events and their outcomes.

Executive producer: Mohammed Alsaedi
Director: Iman Ben Hussain