PHOENIX — An Arizona Indian tribe has ended a seven-year legal fight over blood samples members gave to university scientists for diabetes research that were later used to study schizophrenia, inbreeding and ancient population migration in what tribal members called a case of genetic piracy.
The Havasupai Indians, who live deep in a gorge off the Grand Canyon, settled their lawsuits with Arizona State University in an agreement announced Wednesday and approved by the Legislature’s Joint Legislative Budget Committee on Tuesday.
The Havasupai claimed ASU conducted the additional research without permission, invading tribal members’ privacy, betraying the tribe’s trust and misrepresenting what researchers had done with blood samples and subsequent research results.
The settlement includes a lump $700,000 payment to the 41 plaintiffs, and the university has agreed to help the tribe seek third-party funding to build a new health clinic and high school in the isolated village.
ASU also has agreed to give the tribe the more than 200 blood samples, which members say will be buried in a sacred ceremony, some with the remains of the people who gave the blood.
