A group of researchers wants to develop an experiment to determine whether a new drug effectively treats cancer. The researchers want to inject the drug in hamsters first to determine whether there are any potentially serious side effects.

Part A: What are some possible ethical issues with this type of testing?

Part B: While conducting the experiment, the researchers find cancer stops spreading, and they declare the new drug is responsible. Is this a good assumption? Explain.

Respuesta :

Answer:

Part A: The animals are used for examining and determining the effect of a particular new drug for the treatment of the diseases and disorders before they are examined over humans. This practice is called as clinical trial.

The ethical issue associated with given type of testing is that animals have right to live and survive. They should not be subjected to the treatment where they experience harm or even death.

Part B: Those assigned to the control take a sugar pill. The only thing you want to vary across groups when you're conducting an experiment is the treatment. Since taking pills is a part of taking medication (the treatment), medical experiments often employ something called a placebo-controlled study where outcomes for those who are randomly assigned to take the medication are compared to outcomes for those who are randomly assigned to take a sugar pill. The sugar pill is expected to have no effect, so it serves as a useful baseline to compare the treatment to.

Answer:

The current code of ethics to be upheld in science experiments are as follows: the experiment must contain a clear scientific purpose, the animals must be housed and provided with care, the animals must be legally acquired, the least amount of suffering must be ensured, and the animals can only be used when it is entirely necessary.

In this paragraph, we can see the plan does not fit the code of ethics entirely- because this is a new drug, we can not be sure that this experiment will not be fatal for the animals, and that they will not suffer tremendously before passing on. The medicine should be tested first on a sample which is not living.

Explanation: