5 - Research ethics II

Summary

Following a review of some historical cases of fraud and misconduct in science, Chapter 4 considered key elements of GSP (good scientific practice) or RCR (responsible conduct of research). Yet well before public and professional attention was directed toward GSP or RCR in general the ethical practice of research had become an even more public and controversial issue in relation to two special types of scientific work, those having to do with the use of humans and animals in research. Interestingly, the issue of the ethical treatment of animals actually preceded that of the proper treatment of human beings, at least as a popular issue. Because of its greater salience today, however, it is appropriate to deal first with scientific research involving humans before turning, in the following chapter, to a discussion of research involving nonhuman animals.

Setting the stage: clinical trials in developing countries

One of the most human-intensive areas of science is that of experimental studies or trials of medical therapies. There are many more types of research with humans, including biological and genetic, psychological and social scientific, and even pedagogical research. But clinical trials research raises most issues in the most intensified form, and it is in the biomedical area that ethical standards have been developed and then extended to other types of research on human beings. The single most salient issue not raised in the biomedical area itself concerns the appropriateness of extending or adapting the standards of biomedical research to biological, genetic, psychological, and social scientific research involving human subjects.