Science and Technology Flashcards
Nuremberg code
- voluntary consent is needed
- There must be an avoidance of uneccessry physical and mental suffering
- right to withdraw
Decleration of Geneva 1948
- ‘I will not permit considerations of religion, nationality, race, party politics or social standing to intervene in my duty to my patient’
- ‘I will not use my meduical knowledge contrary to the laws of humanity’
- ‘its unethical for physicians to employ scientific knowledge to imperial health or destroy life’
Decleration of Helsinki
- patients right to respect, self determination, informed decision making
- investigators duties: primary to subjects welfare, ethical consideration take precidence over laws and regulation
- allows for surrogate consent
Examples in America of unethical human testing
-Tuskgee Syphillis study: ‘the mens status did not warrant ethical debate. they were subjects, not patients, materials, not sick people’
300 Af ams givin syp and never cured
- Guatamala STD study: infected 1500 prisoners, military conscripts, prostitutes, orphans and mentally ill STDs. lost track of 13% so they were never treated.
- Chester Southam: gave cancer to sick people in Jewish Hospital for chronic diseases without consent.
Nazis studies
Dr Rasher- coagulation
Dr Clausberg- sterilisation
Dr Mengle- Twins
Dr Gebhart- super warrior transplants
Monkeys and Parkinsons
- Felix the monkey (macaque): trained for six months getting him to perform tasks with electrodes in his brain. Then give Felix Parkinson’s and repeat the tests.
- 40,000 people with Parkinson’s have been helped by surgery technique developed partly by experiments on around 100 monkeys.
Issues with Embryo experimentation
1] Financial: rich will be able to afford designer babies, therefore there will be a superior race of humans who are smarter, more attractive who will take jobs, unis, schools e.t.c.
2] Risky: who knows what could happen if we tamper with our genes. Humans are supposed to make progress through evolution… we do not understand the LT consequences and it would disrupt the world ecosystem and equilibrium.
3] Embryo experimentation is not an ‘all powerful’ force, it is much more complicated than we think… it does not make you you… your identity is your religion, environment, culture e.t.c. too.
4] Embryo is a potential person- this brings in issues around the rights of the embryo
Mary Warnock
“for morality to exist at all, there must be some things that, regardless of consequences, should not be done…’
Rules in the UK on embryo experimentation
- embryos can only be experimented on in the first 14 days then they must be destroyed [when it reaches its primitive streak]
- human embryos cannot be placed in animals
- human cloning is not allowed
- must be licensed
What are the 5 reasons you are allowed to experiment on embryos in the UK
1] understand infertility
2]increase knowledge on congenital diseases
3] understand miscarriages
4] develop more effective contraception
5] develop methods of detecting gene or chromosone abnorlamilites
Christian perspective of embryo experimentation
- sanctity of life- Bible teaches that God made people in his image and that life thherefore has an intrinsic value
- life begins at conception so destruction of embryos is a sin
- certain actions are intrinsically evil- unnatural and destroys life
- we need to use God given intelligence
- allows scientific advances but not at the expense of human life-Natural Law
Quote on Christian perspective
“i knew you before you were born. I knitted together in your mothers womb” Jeramiah
‘For I know the plans I have for you,”
What are the two main ethical issues involved in human experimentation
the duty of doctors, scientists and researchers to act ethically in the production of new drugs, in their preparation, testing and honest publication of results.
Secondly the ethical obligation to have a regulated environment requiring safe guards to protect the public from possible side effects.
What are the two recent breakthroughs in scientific experimentation
stem cell research- they are valuable because of their regenerative and generative capacity. e.g. 2005 cured broken spines in rats and in 2007 research indicated they would be able to cure muscle degeneration in the eyes that causes blindness [this effects 14 million in Europe].
Cybrid embryos- A bill in 2008 supported the creation of human-animal embryos. This involves the insertion of a nucleas of a human call into a cows ovum. This could help cure Alzhiemers e.t.c.
The resulting embryos are more than 99% human, with a small animal component, making up around 0.1%
Ellen DeGenres
‘If you want to test cosmetics, why do it on some poor animal who hasn’t done anything? They should use prisoners who have been convicted of murder or rape instead’
