When is Human Experimentation Acceptable?

Or is it Ever Called For?

Human experimentation; the words alone send chills down the spine. Yet, we must recognize that it happens. Think about all of the clinical trials you hear about daily on radio and television. They often call for volunteers to participate, for which they will receive free trial medication and compensation to and from the trial site. Whether we choose to recognize it or not, that is a form of human experimentation.

We justify clinical trials by calling them helpful or benign in nature. We deem them necessary in order for medical progress to take place. But somewhere in the deep, dark recesses of our minds there has to be a seed of doubt; a glimmer of worry; a spot of concern. If there isn't, then we can no longer call ourselves truly human - - or humane.

The truth is that a lot of literature beginning in the nineteenth century and continuing through today documents the use of human beings for the purposes of medical experimentation. Some are supposedly as benign as "clinical trials." Others turn out to be so much more. We would like to believe that human experimentation began with the evil spawned from Nazi, Germany. However, to do so is a turning a blind eye to that fact that human experimentation has always taken place.

Many theorize that medical experiments began when germs were first theorized. Others say it began with the rise of pharmaceutical companies. In reality, however, human experimentation goes back much further than that. The Romans used to experiment with human vivisection on gladiators and slaves.

Although medical experimentation probably did begin with animals, it nonetheless quickly became clear that results among human beings were going to be different; thereby opening the door to justify human experimentation. In the beginning, of course, everything was done very quietly and under the broad banner of scientific knowledge. And claims abound about the validity of "voluntary and informed consent." Unfortunately, that too, seems to be in question with case after documented case where consent not only seems unlikely, but virtually improbable.