Human Guinea Pig: Irish woman seeks truth about vaccines

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Mari Steed

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However, Steed is hopeful that the case will be reopened in Ireland as calls for the government to deal with the scandal intensifies.

“We were very upset that the investigation was called to a halt. So many mothers and children came forward but nothing more could be done,” said Steed bitterly.

Although putting it on the back burner, Steed said the injustice she suffered as a baby was always in the back of her mind.

She recently teamed up with three other victims living in the U.S. who were also adopted from Ireland to take legal action against GlaxoSmithKline and the Sacred Heart Order, which allowed the tests at the Bessborough Mother and Baby Home and other homes throughout Ireland.
“I feel it’s the right thing to do,” she said.
Steed, a mother of three, isn’t interested in financial gain. She seeks the truth behind her ordeal. Why, she wonders, were such experiments allowed to be carried out, and who gave the permission?
“A formal apology for one would be nice, and everyone used during these trials should be given some sort of medical follow-up to make sure there are no side effects,” said Steed, admitting that as far as she knows her health is good.

Her birth mother Josephine told the Laffoy Commission her permission was never sought or given, from either the multinational drug company responsible for the vaccine trials or the Sacred Heart order.

“My mother never gave permission to anyone to test these drugs on me, so why did they do it?” she asks emotionally.

Steed’s own story is remarkable. Seemingly following in her mother’s footsteps Steed, after falling pregnant as a teenager, gave up her eldest daughter, Kerry, for adoption at the request of her adoptive mother.

Steed too was sent to a mother and baby home in Philadelphia and cut off from her family at the time.

“It was when Kerry was born in 1978 that I began getting curious about my own mother. After all, I was walking in her same shoes,” said Steed, who is now back in Kerry’s life.

Her curiosity sparked a journey that turned out to be a blessing. While working at a college in Florida, Steed was introduced to the powers of the Internet and its search engines.

“The very first word I typed into the search engine was adoption. From there I found a few U.S.-based support groups, but no one had any idea how I would go about finding out information from Ireland,” Steed said. 

Determined to stay focused, Steed proceeded with her quest and was finally introduced to a heritage researcher in Dublin who pointed her in the right direction.

“This guy was amazing. He was able to fax me my actual birth certificate within 24 hours,” said Steed, adding how emotional it was to see it.

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