Application of Research Ethics
The application of research ethics in cases of human and animal subjects is essential to ensure the ethical treatment and minimization of harm for the subjects. Think about how you can apply research ethics principles to some real-life cases of projects involving human or animal subjects.
Read the case scenario and select the "check" if you think the scenario follows the standards for ethical research, or select the "cross" if you think the scenario does not follow ethical standards.
Reflect on your choice, and then open the feedback to see if you are correct.
A project seeking to understand asthma attacks recruited healthy volunteers to induce asthma attacks by inhalation of hexamethonium powder. Hexamethonium was approved by the Food & Drug Administration to treat hypertension in the 1960s but has never been tested for safety via inhalation.
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Correct, because hexamethonium's safety via inhalation had not been tested, this project placed subjects under unknown risks. Unfortunately, this project was approved and conducted in 2001 at Johns Hopkins University and resulted in the death of Ellen Roche, a 24-year-old woman who volunteered as a participant. The IRB reviewing the project should have asked the researchers to provide evidence of the safety of hexamethonium as an inhalant before approving this project (Savulescu & Spriggs, 2002).
Incorrect. This project was conducted in 2001 at Johns Hopkins University and resulted in the death of Ellen Roche, a 24-year-old woman who volunteered as a participant. Because hexamethonium's safety via inhalation had not been tested, this project placed subjects under unknown risk. The IRB reviewing the project should have asked the researchers to provide evidence of the safety of hexamethonium as an inhalant before approving this project (Savulescu & Spriggs, 2002).
A researcher recruited junior female members of his laboratory as egg donors for a research project. Because the process of egg extraction is invasive and painful and can have side effects, the women had the option to refuse.
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Correct. Although it could be argued that the lab members were free to refuse to donate their eggs, the fact that the subjects worked under the researcher recruiting them created a scenario of coercion. In 2005 Dr. Hwang admitted to recruiting female lab members to donate their eggs for his research. This was one of the many ethics violations he committed that eventually led to his trial and conviction in South Korea (Cyranoski & Check, 2005).
Incorrect. Although it could be argued that the lab members were free to refuse to donate their eggs, the fact that the subjects worked under the researcher recruiting them created a scenario of coercion. In 2005 Dr. Hwang admitted to recruiting female lab members to donate their eggs for his research. This was one of the many ethics violations he committed that eventually led to his trial and conviction in South Korea (Cyranoski & Check, 2005).
A UK university created a way to share tissues from mice used in their breast cancer experiments. Tissues that are not used by the local researchers can be requested by researchers from other universities to conduct their own research.
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Correct. This is a great effort to reduce the number of animals used in research by allowing others to analyze tissues that would otherwise go to waste (Anon., 2017).
Incorrect. Without this ability to share, researchers in other institutions would have to use their own animals for their projects, and thus the number of animals would increase unnecessarily (Anon., 2017).
Understanding the ethical principles of working with animal or human subjects is necessary for those conducting research with these types of subjects. However, it is also important for all citizens to be informed about these principles. It is the responsibility of all citizens to keep researchers accountable, contribute to the public discussion of these policies, and be aware of their rights as potential research subjects.