Brazil Wants US to Return Indian Blood Taken 40 Years Ago

Brazilian government lawyers and prosecutors (Ministério Público Federal) (MPF) are investigating the whereabouts of blood samples taken from Brazilian Ianomami Indians in the 1960s and 1970s.

"At the time the blood samples were taken there was no information about what was to be done with them. The problem is that in the Ianomani culture, the dead are cremated and if there is any blood left it must be thrown in the river. The Ianomani believe that blood survives a person and must be destroyed ritually," explains Mauricio Fabretti, a federal prosecutor.

Letters have been sent to universities and research centers that are believed or known to have Ianomani blood samples. According to Fabretti, most of them are American.

"We will initially attempt to have the samples returned through friendly negotiations. If that does not work we may have to operate through an American law firm," explained Fabretti.

The prosecutor added that Brazilian prosecutors are also investigating whether or not the samples were taken with authorization from the Indian Protection Foundation, the Ministry of Health or the Indians themselves.

ABr

Tags:

You May Also Like

January 1994

CONTENTS: Cover: The Northeast is dying of thirst (p. 7) (President) Lula talks (p. ...

Brazil’s Development Bank to Fund US$ 34 Billion in Projects This Year

Brazil's BNDES (National Bank for Economic and Social Development) should end 2007 having loaned ...

For Brazil, Venezuela/Colombia Conflict Breaks Image of Peaceful South America

Marco Aurélio Garcia, Brazil’s foreign affairs advisor, said that the breaking of relations between ...