The Belmont Report Differentiates Between Practice and Research

There are laws to allow only safe research but dangerous research still occurs anyways. For example in Pennsylvania Prisoners Were Human Guinea Pigs in Army Mind-Drug Test it says, “320 prisoners were injected with varying doses of 16 drugs in secret chemical warfare experiments” (Epstien 1). Different substances that are used in chemical warfare were tested on prisoners which is clearly a dangerous test to perform where casualties would be expected. This was secret research performed by the military and was comparable to the research that was performed on Jews in the concentration camps such as Auschwitz. Another example of dangerous research is, “he used radioactive materials, hallucinogenic drugs, and carcinogenic materials on prisoners” (Urbina

The three Belmont Principles (respect for persons, beneficence, and justice) were violated during the Tuskegee Syphilis Study. For example, the researchers violated the respect for person’s principle, because roughly 600 African-American men were recruited without voluntary informed consent. The researchers also did not ensure that participants understood that enrolling in the research is voluntary and that they are free to withdrawn from the study at any time without penalty or loss of benefits. The men were pressured to participate due to implied threats (coercion) and excessive compensation (undue influence). The beneficence principle was likewise violated by the Tuskegee Study in that the researchers did not obliged to give forethought

In medical field many of invention has the victims as trade-off to get something researchers want, in many case when researchers wanted to invent new drugs they tested them on different animals such as mouse, dogs and many others. Later, scientist had to explore the effectiveness of their new drugs their invented on human because those drugs are designed to cure human, if the drug is not effective could cause different side effect or eventually kill the subject where in this case its human. Tuskegee is one of the study that used human as subject to experiment on the effect of untreated syphilis, Nazi human experimentation, and sterilization of embicile, all these experiment were performed against the will of those who were involved in the research

One ethical principle is that of respect for persons who are involved in the research. According to the Belmont Report (1979) this principle should honor a person and their autonomous choices, however, the report observes that not all individuals are “capable of self-determination” (sec. Part B 1. Respect for Persons). This incapability requires that those persons be protected (Belmont Report, 1979). Wertheimer (2011) corroborates this in stating that group soft-paternalism is implicit that research should not capitalize on or abuse vulnerable populations, or those population groups who are not able to make rational self-determination. The presence of group soft-paternalism by Wertheimer (2011) in exploiting vulnerable groups also supports the Belmont Report (1979) ethical principle of justice. This principle ensures that persons selected for research are not merely being selected based on their vulnerability (Belmont Report, 1979, sec. Part B 3.

The Tuskegee study was a traditional social science research with the use of intentional deception of the subjects, as means to deception to be biased to, as well as, morally wronging and harming people in favour of benefits of the knowledge gain in research. In particular, when the investigation betrayed a basic misunderstanding of the experiment’s purposes and design, as it was ethically and/or stereotypically unjustified. Moreover when the researchers regarded their subjects as less than humans, as to the nature of blacks, sex and disease (Syphilis), in order to carry out the experimentation. In light of deceptions and exploitations the experiment perpetrated, it also failed to obtain adequate treatment and well-informed consent from the

The first ethical principle stated by the Belmont Report is respect for persons. “Respect for persons incorporates at least two ethical convictions: first, that individuals should be treated as autonomous agents, and second, that persons with diminished autonomy are entitled to protection” (The Belmont Report). The researcher must respect the subjects decisions and be obliged to allow them to take part of the experiment voluntarily. The second

The Hastings Center Report stated that after World War II there were at least 45 cases when research articles resorted to data, revealed due to Nazi experiments. (latimes, 1988) Public controversy was stimulated when the issues of potential scientific abuses and social responsibility were raised. A researcher on hypothermia Dr. Robert Pozos was to initiate the questions, related to utilization Nazi data, at the bioethical conference. Dr Pozos laments that despite attention which was undoubtedly drawn, no solution was found: "Ethicists never answer a question. They raise one question, which raises another question and another. I want guidelines. I want to know if

The Belmont Report summarizes ethical principles and guidelines for research involving human subjects. Three core principles are identified: respect for persons, beneficence, and justice. Three primary areas of application are also stated. They are informed consent, assessment of risks and benefits, and selection of subjects. According to Vollmer and Howard, the Belmont Report allows for a positive solution, which at times may be difficult to find,

The result of the Nuremburg Trials and the Tuskegee Study resulted in the National Research Act (Pub. L. 93-348). This act was signed into law on July 12, 1974. The passing of this law produced the National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioral Research (Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, 1979). The job of this commission was to pinpoint principles which involved human participants and to provide the rules and procedures necessary to insure the safety of research participants. As a

The Belmont Report was put in place to protect individuals who are involved in biomedical and behavioral research. The Belmont Report assist individuals to understand ethical codes and strategies essential for conducting research where human are involved. Three main ethical principles for research according to The Belmont Report include respect for persons, benificence, and justice. The Belmont Report keeps individuals in line when an issue arises. Sometimes people are faced with adversity and need to come to a decision that would not hurt or harm all parties involved. The individuals conducting the research are welcome to use these ethical codes and strategies to develop a conclusion that best suit all parties involve. In this paper

Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. (1979). The Belmont report: Ethical principles and guidelines for the protection of human subjects of research. Washington, DC:OPRR Reports.

When you think of medical research, you probably think of lab rats. The “lab rats” in both Tuskegee syphilis study and the nazi human experiments were living human beings. History repeats itself as the two studies occur with the same intention and procedures. It was a result of ignorance and the idea of hierarchy: superiority and inferiority. The inhumane action of the researchers led to policies that protects against barbarous experiments.

During WWII human experimentation was a big controversy in the medical field. The outburst of human experimentation during WWII resulted in the research of the unethical and vexing cases. For forty years African American males were being used as test subjects to test the spread of syphilis and how it affected the human body. The human experiments of the Tuskegee syphilis study were similar to the other experiments in the sense that the doctors carried out the tests without informed consent. When the Nuremberg Code was established in 1947, it prohibited the practice of human experimentation without the use of informed consent. Before the Nuremberg Code and informed consent, human experimentation was unethical and inhumane as demonstrated in the Tuskegee syphilis study and the mustard gas testing on American troops.

For example, “From 1960 to 1971, researchers at the University of Cincinnati exposed at least 90 cancer patients to large radiation doses and recorded their physical and mental responses. Most of the patients were poor or working class people; about 60 percent were black. Twenty-one dies within a month or so.” Another example is “In the so-called Jewish Chronic Disease Hospital case of 1963, prominent researchers injected living cancer cells into uninformed nursing home residents, some Holocaust survivors, to test their immune system.” (60) Anyone with a sound moral compass can see that these studies were unethical. As a result, this led to the ethical, social, and legal aspects of advances in medical science.

For my community connection, I have chosen to contact university professors who are competent in the area of bioethics, namely Dr. Michael P. Berman and Dr. Brian Lightbody. I found these individuals on the Brock University faculty, as professors who teach bioethics. I hope to have an email correspondence with these professors, and use that information to further the ethical implications of human experimentation.