Arizona Tribe’s Suit Over Research Revived

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PHOENIX (AP) — An Arizona appeals court panel ruled Friday that the Havasupai American Indian tribe can proceed with a lawsuit that claims university researchers misused blood samples taken from tribal members.

Overturning a judge’s 2007 dismissal of the case, a split Arizona Court of Appeals panel said Havasupai Native Americans and other plaintiffs had provided enough information to go to trial or at least enough to go forward in trial court pending further proceedings.

The northern Arizona tribe, whose isolated village lies deep in a gorge off the Grand Canyon, claims Arizona State University and University of Arizona researchers misused blood samples taken from more than 200 tribal members for diabetes research in the 1990s by also using it for research into schizophrenia, inbreeding and ancient population migration.

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