What Is The Price Knowledge :: essays research papers

What Is the Price Knowledge     I feel there is a definite need for knowledge in todays society, butthere is also a definite point when it has gone too far. It has gone too farby conducting experiments on people without permit them know the consequencesand side effects that will place upon them. It has also reached an extremewhen the person becomes physically or mentally impaired after the experiments .I suffer this treatment as both immoral and unethical there is no reason to harma normally healthy person for some promotion in scientific knowledge .     In doing research for this paper I have found many examples where homos were used as "guinea pigs" or killed. One example of this misconductwas in 1959 it was a common practice for drug companies to provide samples ofexperimental drugs, to physicians, who were then paid to gather data on theirpatients taking the drugs. Physicians throughout the country prescribed theredrugs to patie nts without their knowledge or consent as part of this looselycontrolled research. Example of this was the drug sedative thalidomide was given(p) to vast number of pregant women and caused thousands of birth defects innewborn infants. Because of this event, the Kefauver - Harris amendmants tofood, drug and cosmetic act were passed requiring informal consent be obtainedin the testing of these drugs.      Another naughtiness research project was doctors injected live cancercells into underprivileged elderly patients without their permission. Theresearch went forward without revue by the hospitals research committee andover the objections of three physicians consulted, who argued that the proposedsubjects were risky of giving ample consent to participate. The revealing ofthe experiment served to make both officials and the Board of Regents of theUniversity of the State of New York, aware of the shortcomings of procedures inplace to protect human subjects. They we re further concerned over the publicsreaction to revealing of the research and the impact it would have on researchgenerally and the institutions in particular. After a review the Board ofRegents disapproved the researchers. They suspended the licenses of Dr.sMandel and Southam, but since delayed the suspension and placed the physicianson probation for one year.     Another example took place during World War II. The new expanse ofradiation science was at the center of one of the most ambitious and concealedresearch efforts the world has known Human radiation experiments. They wereundertaken in concealed to help understand radiation risks to workers engaged inthe development of the atomic bomb. Following the war, the new Atomic Energy