The Karitiana Tribe in Brazil says it was duped into providing blood and DNA samples that are now being sold on the Internet for $85.
Scientists began taking blood from the tribe in the 1970s. But promises of medicine and other benefits never arrived, tribal members say.
"We were duped, lied to and exploited," Renato Karitiana, a tribal leader, told The New York Times.
The Suruí Tribe and the Yanomami Tribe also say they were duped into giving blood. Along with the Karitiana, they are trying to stop Coriell Cell Repositories, a nonprofit group in New Jersey, from selling their blood and DNA samples.
The center says the samples were obtained legally. The National Indian Foundation, Brazil's Indian agency, says scientists who originally took the blood violated the law.
Get the Story:In the Amazon, Giving Blood but Getting Nothing (The New York Times 6/20)
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