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
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.
on 24/11/2010 from http://research.unlv.edu/ORI-HSR/history-ethics.htm
I have experienced medical research being carried out and have had to deal with the ethical issues that go with that kind of research.
ReplyDeleteDue to the kind of research I am unable to say where i saw this but I spoke to several people who all talked about the ethical issues they have to consider when doing the research. For example they must ensure that the animals do not feel pain when operating on the animals.
Many people are against researching on animals and this affects the ethical policies of medical research on animals and this is why it is kept relatively secret. Although it is legal for it to be done it is frowned upon by many. In my opinion and talking from seeing what is done first hand i feel that the medical research on animals is really important. A lot of medical procedures would be impossible. People's lives have been changed by the use of medical research on animals.
'In medical research the use of human tissue is crucial, to increase understanding of human disease and to help develop new and improved treatments. It is also very important that the public supports the use of such tissue. To maintain public confidence and trust, all tissue used must be obtained lawfully and with appropriate consent, and be handled and used sensitively and responsibly by researchers.'
ReplyDelete'The use of animals in medical research remains essential. However, in accordance with the law, scientists must avoid using animals wherever possible. If applying for funding for studies involving animals, researchers must give sound scientific reasons for using them and explain why there are no realistic alternatives.
Around 30 per cent of the research we fund that these programmes follow high standards of involves animals. We are committed to ensuring animal welfare.'
Both of these statements were found on the Medical Research Councils website. Its a brief outline to how they go about their research in an ethical manner.
Use of Human Tissue. (2010). Retrieved on November 25, 2010. From http://www.mrc.ac.uk/Ourresearch/Ethicsresearchguidance/Useofhumantissue/index.htm
Use of Animals. (2010). Retrieved on November 25, 2010. From http://www.mrc.ac.uk/Ourresearch/Ethicsresearchguidance/Useofanimals/index.htm
To pick on one point you made about 'Institutional Review Boards' I made on these earlier and are an extremely important factor when helping to protect the ethical needs of subjects. An IRB board can stop research from happening if for somereason they think it causes pain, suffering etc to the subject.
ReplyDeleteThere also extremely important to prevent future legal challenges from subjects on both the University/Organisation as well as the researcher.
And.. To touch on Research Ethics in Animal Testing here is a useful link.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/animals/using/experiments_1.shtml
I personally have very little experience to do with animal testing but it is clear its a very sensitive topic. This article shows how strongly people feel about it..
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1323573/Animal-rights-activists-targeted-Huntingdon-Life-Sciences-jailed.html
This relates back to the video i posted, with medical research i feel it all comes down to whether everyone is happy with the research and they know exactly what is going to happen. Also as i said before, you have to look at the benefits against the risks. This short paragraph sums it up:
ReplyDeleteClinical research can involve risk, but it is important to remember that routine medical care also involves risk. It is important that you weigh the risks and benefits of participating in research before enrolling. When thinking about risk, consider two important questions:
What is the chance that the study will cause me harm?
If there is a chance of harm, how much harm could I experience?
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/a-participants-guide-to-mental-health-clinical-research/what-are-the-risks-and-benefits-of-participating-in-research.shtml