Yet another example of unethical research

Just looked into examples of unethical research and found an article on google of several cases of research that has been unethical. It outlines several cases of research carried out on humans in the 1900's.

Here is the link

http://www.und.edu/instruct/wstevens/PROPOSALCLASS/MARSDEN&MELANDER2.htm

Another Example of unethical research

A recent story in the news about unethical research:

President Barack Obama today asked his bioethics commission to dig into the recent discovery that US government-funded scientists intentionally infected subjects with syphilis in a study in Guatemala in the 1940s.

"The research was clearly unethical," Obama wrote. 

The stories on this link:

http://blogs.nature.com/news/thegreatbeyond/2010/11/obama_orders_review_of_us_huma.html

An Exampe of unethical research

While animal experimentation can be incredibly helpful in understanding man, and developing life saving drugs, there have been experiments which go well beyond the realms of ethics. The monkey drug trials of 1969 were one such case. In this experiment, a large group of monkeys and rats were trained to inject themselves with an assortment of drugs, including morphine, alcohol, codeine, cocaine, and amphetamines.

Once the animals were capable of self-injecting, they were left to their own devices with a large supply of each drug.The animals were so disturbed (as one would expect) that some tried so hard to escape that they broke their arms in the process. The monkeys taking cocaine suffered convulsions and in some cases tore off their own fingers (possible as a consequence of hallucinations), one monkey taking amphetamines tore all of the fur from his arm and abdomen, and in the case of cocaine and morphine combined, death would occur within 2 weeks.

The point of the experiment was simply to understand the effects of addiction and drug use; a point which, I think, most rational and ethical people would know did not require such horrendous treatment of animals.

Top 10 Unethical Phycological Experiments. Jamie. Frater (2007 - 2010). Retrieved on November 25, 2010 from  http://listverse.com/2008/09/07/top-10-unethical-psychological-experiments/

Many people belive that the end result justifies these actions whilst some believe that unethical research is just plain wrong and can never be justified by the results. I believe tat unethical research should never be carried out unless the researcher is certain that the results obtained are of a much higher benefit than the detriment of hi or her unethical research. In the case above, Ibeleivethis resech to be cruel, unecessary and unjust, a much better way o carry his out would be to monitor rea humans who are allready addicted to drugs and ask for they're cosent to be monitored.

In conclusion unethical research is seen as a bad and wrong thing by todays society, however it is ultimately upto the researcher to determine what he or she thinks is justifiable for unethical practices based onthey're own morals and values. 

Online Research Ethics

I just found a video on youtube about online research ethics. I think that this is a very relevant topic as in this very blog we have all carried out online research.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7T8t11Vqht0 

Hooley. T, March 11, 2008, Retrieved November 25, 2010.

Medical Ethics Link

have a look at this ethics committee within the NHS, just a quick link to show what they do and their role.

http://www.nres.npsa.nhs.uk/

An extremely useful video giving a overview of Ethics in Research.

Interesting Links Regarding Research Ethics

Here are some interesting links related to Research Ethics.  Some we have used to gather the information for our blog postings, some we haven't and are just useful!


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1323573/Animal-rights-activists-targeted-Huntingdon-Life-Sciences-jailed.html
http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/ethics.php
http://www.niehs.nih.gov/research/resources/bioethics/whatis.cfm (Extremely good website)
http://www.nres.npsa.nhs.uk/ (Very good website on how the NHS's view on Ethics)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Research_ethics
http://www.open.ac.uk/research/ethics/FAQs.shtml
http://students.shu.ac.uk/rightsrules/resethics1.html
http://www.corec.org.uk/
http://ethics.grad.ucl.ac.uk/forms/guidance1.pdf (Very good PDF regarding ethics when working with children)
http://www.esrcsocietytoday.ac.uk/ESRCInfoCentre/Images/ESRC_Re_Ethics_Frame_tcm6-11291.pdf
http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/abstract/141/3/400 (Consent)
http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/art.php?id=14987
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institutional_review_board (Information on IRB's)
http://www.gifted.uconn.edu/siegle/research/Ethics/ethics.htm
http://www.slideshare.net/InResEth/internet-research-ethics-and-irbs-4159809 (Very good slideshow)
http://www.bprc.nl/BPRCE/L4/Eform.html (Information on what should be included in an Ethical form)

Medical Ethical research history

In recent times Research Ethics have been created and introduced for the safety and well being of all participants involved. Throughout history up untill recent times around the 1950's research has been carried out with little or no ethical practises, be it medical research on humans to find out more about the human body or testing on animals for the introduction of medicines or cures. These types of research often paid no attention to Consent, Animal cruelty, or subject safety and would be classed as illegal in today's society. Animal experiments have been used to find medicines and cures for human diseases as far back in history as has been recorded.

One such Ethical code that has been put forward to the international community is the Nuremburg Code which was created in 1948. This cam after the convictions of 28 German physicians who performed illegal, imoral and unethical medical procedures on prisoners of war, Jews and criminals in the name of science during the second world war.

In 1964 the Declaration of Helsinki was created, the World Medical Association established reccomendations guiding medical docters in biomedical research involving human subjects. This declaration dealt with issues shown below:

• Human research must be based on laboratory or animal experimentation
• Informed consent from subject is necessary
• Research to be carried out by a medical/scientificly qualifies individual
• Risks should not exceed the benefits

This was the basis for good clinical practices used today.

Finally we have some current regulations in place, these incluse all previous regulations created however the main elements of the common rule include:

• Requirements for assuring complience by research institutions;
• requirements for researchers obtaining and documenting informed consent;
• requirements for Institutional Reveiw Board (IRB)
• additional protections for certain vulnerable research subjects. e.g pregnant woman, prisoners and children.

This all helps ensure that all current medical research is as ethical as possible ensuring as much saftey to the subject as possible.

on 24/11/2010 from http://research.unlv.edu/ORI-HSR/history-ethics.htm

Legal Issues involving Research

If you handle information about research participants then there are a number of legal obligations to protect that information.
The data protection act 1998 states :

- Data may only be used for the specific purposes for which it was collected
- Data must not be disclosed to other parties without the consent of the individual whom it is about, unless there is legislation or other overriding legitimate reason to share the information
- Individuals have a right of access to the information held about them, subject to certain exceptions
- Personal information may be kept for no longer than is necessary and must be kept up to date
- Personal information may not be sent outside the European Economic Area unless the individual whom it is about has consented or adequate protection is in place
- All entities that process personal information must register with the Information Commissioner's Office
- Entities holding personal information are required to have adequate security measures in place
- Subjects have the right to have factually incorrect information corrected

Data Protection Act 1998. (2010). Retrieved on November 24, 2010 from the Wikipedia website http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_Protection_Act_1998

Therefore when data is collected for research the researchers must ensure that the partcipants information and personal data is kept securely, not used for any other means that what they have told the subjects they would use it for, once it is not needed anymore it is deleted, allow the participants to access their information if they want to  etc etc. If this act is not followed legal action can be taken against the researchers.

Every individual has human rights. The rights themselves are based on principles like dignity, equality and repect and autonomy. They protect your freedom to control your own life. They help in keeping safe and protected from harm, being treated fairly and with dignity, living the way in which you like; and taking an active part in your comminity and wider society.

Therefore it is important when carrying out research on someone that their own human rights are considered. When asking them questions, researching on them, using them for something - a researcher must treat them with respect and as a human being not just a test subject. If a partcipant of research feels that they have been violated in any way they can take their case to court.

The Human Rights Act. (n.d.). Retrieved on November 24, 2010 from the website http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/human-rights/what-are-human-rights/the-human-rights-act/
Ways in which you could make sure you are following the human rights act could be:
- When asking a participant questions speak to them with respect and do not ask them and pressurise them into asking them questions they do not feel comfortable answering
- If research is being carried out for medical reasons then make sure that the patient is treated with dignity and not embarressed in any way or told to do anything that they dont want to do
- If researching on children or anyone who may not be mentally capable as much as a healthy adult, they must be treated as equals and not any different to anyone else. It would be best to have a carer or parent there to make sure that they are happy and not uncomfortable before asking questions.

There are many more ways in which the Human Rights Act  1998 is followed correctly.

IRB Board & Prevention of Future Problems

As outlined already there are a general set of rules outlining ethical standards and principles that people agree on however there may be a time when a researcher may question themselves and the research they are doing.  They may also be questioned during the research by the subjects or by a person of more authority.  

When this happens and the research runs up against the rights of potential participants in most institutions and organisations there will be a panel of people called the Institutional Review Board (IRB). 

This panel of people will review and possibly grant proposals made with respect to ethical implications and decides whether additional actions need to be taken to assure the safety and rights of participants.  This panel not only potentially protects the subjects of the research but also the Institution, Organisation and researcher from legal proceedings and tarnishing there reputation. 

Primary concerns of the IRB are that risks are minimized for subjects and are reasonable when compared to benefits, participant selection is equitable, privacy and confidentiality are protected, participants are adequately informed of what their participation will entail (e.g., risks and benefits) including written and signed informed consent in most cases.

This shows that the IRB is an extremely board when it comes to Ethics as it can help prevent many future problems.  IRB boards are used exstensively in the research fields of  health and the social sciences, including anthropology, sociology, and psychology.  This includes clinical trials of new drugs which can be the most dangerous type of research on humans. 

At Stanford University this is there stance on Ethics in Research when involving humans and clinical trials..

"All protocols involving both "research" or "clinical investigations" and "human subjects" must be reviewed and approved by the IRB before recruitment and data collection may start."

This shows they take Ethical Research extremely seriously and use an IRB to protect subjects and prevent implications later on.

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William M.K. Trochim, (2006).  Ethics in Research.  Retrieved November 11, 2010, from http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/ethics.php

Stanford University, October 20 (2010), Medical Research, Retrieved November 11, 2010, from http://humansubjects.stanford.edu/research/medical/medical.html

 

Legal Vs. Ethical

I found an cartoon image on the web which adds to the point I made earlier about Ethical Vs. Legal and the trouble this can sometimes create..

Research Ethics within Universities

Within many universities research is carried out. This can be research on many different topics from pharmaceuticals to geography or computing to architecture. All universities carrying out research will have to ensure that all the research they carry out is ethical.

Many universities have departments that specifically concentrate on the ethics of any research that is carried out by someone who is affiliated with that given university. These departments have many methods of ethically approving research. Here are some examples of different universities:

University of Liverpool  - http://www.liv.ac.uk/researchethics/index.htm

Oxford - http://www.admin.ox.ac.uk/curec/index.shtml

University of Greenwich - http://www.admin.ox.ac.uk/curec/index.shtml

 Swansea University (School of Business and Economics)  -http://www.swansea.ac.uk/sbe/research/ethics.php

As I have said in my previous post "Ethical Assessment Forms for Conducting Research", many of the universities have an assessment form for researchers to fill out to allow the ethics departments to approve research easier. There are universities that also have researchers go before a committee board to get there research approved.

What is and Who governs ethical issues concerning human research?

Ethical issues when using human subjects are monitored by The British Sociological Association (BSA) and there are 4 main issues that they would look for to make sure the research is ethically or moraly good quality research.

Deceit - this is regarded a hard ethical issue to review as many different people and organisation have many different views.

Most studies or research would need informed consent from the subjects involved which is central to good ethical practise and so that no uneccesary harm comes to them follwing results or actions from the particular research.

However, some researchers may use covert operations where the subject who is being viewed is unaware of such activities. This is to reduce any unatural behaviour as opposed to someone who knows they are being monitored and simply behaves in a way he thinks is expected. An example of this could be research into racism or descrimination in the work place, a researcher could apply for a job in a suspected organisation without informing anyone around him thus achieving the most natural results. It has been debated by different researchers how Deceit can be determined or justified and ultimately it is upto the researcher to explain his reasons depending on his or her moral values.

Rights - Subjects involved with such research have particular rights such as they're right to privacy which should be taken into account by the researcher.

Damage - This can be split into 2 types, individual and group damage

Individual - Researchers must ensure that indivual subjects can not be harmed from any resulting research publications, this can be done by keeping the subjects name anonymous to the public or even the researchers themselves.

Group - Individuals maybe protected however this may not apply to the wider group of people. When harmful research is carried out on a large group of people, such as violence or drinking habits, a publication maybe produced showing results that ages 16 - 24 are most likely to be violent and drink the most. This does not affect people on an individual basis however maybe viewed by the public in the wrong way and reinforce sterotypical views.

Legality and researchers own moral views - Some research maybe carried out where the researcher is involved with criminal activity, a researcher may want to research may want to research the affects of drugs on individuals and society but in order to do so he or she may have to be witness to criminal activities. Another example could be research into a particular cult or religion, the researcher may not wish to change his beleifs or be forced to partake in any rituals he or she may have to undertake to obtain research results they are looking for.

Before Conducting Primary Research

When conducting primary research you must avoid:

Harm to research participants
Harm to yourself
Damage to someones or somethings reputation

The way in which you can prevent these kind of problems is to be responsible with external contacts and assess the risks before carrying out any kind of research.

Harm to Research Participants
Privacy implications must be thought about before the research has been done. It is important to be clear and understand what data is necessary to keep and record about someone. When it comes to personal data then consent must be found. If privacy has not been fully covered then participants can take legal action.

Harm to yourself
To make sure that no harm is caused to the researcher themselves, details of where they are going and who they are meeting are vital.

Medical Ethics

Heres a little bit more about medical ethics. This is a large area to cover as there are many issues surrounding it. As technology gets better and the capability of better medical appliances becomes available, this subject carries on to grow. Below is a summary of a book on medical ethics, and i think it sums it up well.


One of the most difficult problems that confronts clinicians and medical professionals is how to apply ethical principles to real decisions affecting patients. In this even-handed book, Foster examines the three main approaches to moral decision-making: goal-based, duty-based and rights-based. She examines the underlying philosophical arguments behind each, their relative strengths and weaknesses, and how they can actually be applied. She also looks at the problematic boundaries where best practice ends and experimentation begins. Is it ethical to experiment with new cures on people who are probably dying anyway? And how do you assess quality of consent? This book provides a thorough, non-partisan grounding in what the ethical principles are and what informs them. It is an invaluable preparation both for a researcher being interviewed by an ethics committee and for the people sitting on the committee, and will be essential reading for all medical decision-makers.


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Summery of the book: The Ethics of Medical Research on Humans, by Claire Foster, 2001 issue,  on the website http://www.cambridge.org/gb/knowledge/isbn/item1160137/?site_locale=en_GB. retrieved 11/11/2010

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