Researched Argument Essay

Jessica Kisner

Engl 191-17

Jack Hennes

Nov. 14, 2012

Human Experimentation – Is it Ethical?

“From the beginning of our history the country has been afflicted with compromise. It is by compromise that human rights have been abandoned. I insist that this shall cease. The country needs repose after all its trials; it deserves repose. And repose can only be found in everlasting principles.” - Charles Summer. From some of the most well known cases, to the ones that are swept under the rug and hidden from us, human experimentation dates back as far as our own history does. It has not just been present, but also very common. Our world has advanced far and wide in the medical field, but this was not without some sacrifice and a dark history containing many untold secrets. First it is necessary to look back on cases of human experimentation that took place in our somber past. Second, we must examine why this is unethical and defies every basic human right we are given. Then the counterargument must be presented; many people believe human experimentation is justifiable. Next, more recent cases will be discussed and continuing on, human experimentation will be tied to the story of Henrietta Lack’s. Finally we will look toward the future and where human could possibly still lead us. The emphasis however, is that any type of experimentation on a human-being is utterly atrocious. It has destroyed millions of lives and continues to today.

In order to better understand the ethical and moral issues surrounding human experimentation, it is crucial to establish knowledge of past incidents. One of the most well known but also one of the most horrific was the Holocaust. Although nearly everyone has at least heard of this tragic event, most cannot begin to fathom the circumstances or begin to feel what those individuals felt. The Holocaust is one of the most infamous human experimentation examples in our history, but is it justifiable? Of course not.

On January 30^th, 1933 Adolf Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany with a Jewish population of 566,000 (The History). From that moment on, panic and terror was instilled upon this country. Jews were isolated, alienated and terrorized. Then on March 22^nd of 1933, just 51 days after Hitler took power, the very first concentration camp named Dachau was opened. From then on millions of Jewish individuals were forced to spend their lives in this camp, or ones similar to it. (The History). While being sustained in these camps Jews were subjected to dozens of inhumane and torturous experiments for the Nazi's benefit. They did not simply murder every Jew, they put them through hell first by testing the body's limits in ways never done before. For example, the freezing and hypothermia experiment was popular with the Germans who had fought in war. They wanted to know the effects of extreme cold on the body and how to prevent them, due to the fact that hundreds died from freezing on the Eastern Front. In order to do this they administered experiments to the Jewish men in their camps. The freezing experiments were divided into two parts. First, to establish how long it would take to lower the body temperature to death and second how to best resuscitate the frozen victim (Medical Experiments). The first part consisted of submerging the body in an icy vat of water or leaving them naked outside in the bitter cold, then forcing a thermometer in the rectum to record body temperature. Most victims lost consciousness and died when their body temperature dropped to 25ºC (77ºF). The second part, the resuscitation of the victim, had multiple options. Victims could be placed under sunlamps so hot they melted the skin, or perhaps have boiling water irrigated into the stomach, bladder, and intestines. However, Jews in Nazi Germany suffered through dozens more experiments such as this and discussing them all would take ages. Those who were murdered right away, or died quickly could almost be considered lucky. A man by the name of Dr. Josef Mengele became known as “The Angel of Death” and would carefully observe as prisoners arrived and got off the train at the camps. He would then select any individual looking even slightly different and take them with him to endure his cruel tortures. Specifically, he had a liking for twins who were often murdered and then dissected limb by limb. Nonetheless, any and all Jews were likely to be subjected to experiments of freezing/hypothermia, genetic testing, being infected with diseases, torture through interrogation, high altitude tests, sterilization, surgery practices and traumatic injuries, only to name a few (Medical Experiments).

Keep in mind as well, that the Holocaust is only one specific case in the entire world. Many others must be highlighted as well, remembering too, that these are not the only ones, simply the most heard of. They include: The Stanford prison experiment, The Aversion Project, North Korean experimentation (which greatly resembled those of the Holocaust), The Tuskegee syphilis study, Unit 731 in Japan, and of course the Nazi Experiments. With each of these cases millions of innocent souls were tortured. The lives lost were not only great in number, but offered so much to mankind. How could we do this to our fellow human beings? Under no circumstance are these events ever tolerable, for many reasons.

First and foremost human experimentation is downright wrong, especially in the extent that it has been previously carried out. It tends to be based upon some sort of discrimination. Typically one group is singled out by a more dominant group, is deemed unworthy and inferior, then falls victim to these cruel tortures. Discrimination could include race, gender, age, religion,etc. But we are all human, the same species just with our own variations. Differences in any physical demeanor do not make someone less than another and this is not a reason to be violated and mistreated. It dehumanizes, brutalizes, alienates, and when it comes down to it, simply destroys a person, a family, or even an entire culture. It is barbaric to say the least. Also making it unethical is the fact that it is frequently used only to benefit others. For example, the Tuskegee studies, where black men with syphilis went untreated despite the doctors knowing of their condition only so the effects of the disease could be studied. Another example is the practice of illegal surgery on humans in order to establish the right techniques for later patients. The list goes on and on of other instances as well.

Human experimentation, particularly when it is against a person's will, raises fundamental questions of medical ethics that date back to the ancient Greeks. In ancient Greece physicians adopted the Hippocratic Oath, which made all doctors swear to do no harm to one's patient, or indeed, they shall bare the consequences (Hamblin). This clearly exhibits that medical experiments have almost always been surrounded by ethical concern, and when those lines are crossed it is known to be unacceptable, improper and misconstrued. Therefore, those who carried out the horrific acts must face their punishment. The Nuremberg trials demonstrate this fact very well.

At the beginning of 1940, the Polish government-in-exile asked the British and French governments to condemn the German invasion of their country. The British initially declined to do so; however, in April 1940, a joint British-French-Polish declaration was issued. Relatively bland because of Anglo-French reservations, it proclaimed the trio's "desire to make a formal and public protest to the conscience of the world against the action of the German government whom they must hold responsible for these crimes which cannot remain unpunished. (Nuremberg Trials)

The Nuremberg trials sought out to make the most prominent members of the political, military, and economic leadership of the Nazi Germans pay for their crimes. So on November 1^st, 1943, the United States, United Kingdom and Soviet Union published a document warning that they would pursue the Nazi's to the “uttermost ends of the earth... in order that justice may be done”. The trials began November 20^th, 1945 and continued until sentences were read on October 1^st of 1946. Twelve of the accused were sentenced to death by hanging, 7 received prison sentences and 3 were acquitted. Of the twelve to receive the hanging, two were not hanged. Hermann Göring committed suicide the night before and Martin Bormann was killed in his attempt to escape in May, 1945 (Nuremberg Trials). The medical experiments conducted by German doctors and prosecuted in the so-called Doctors' Trial led to the creation of the Nuremberg Code to control future trials involving human subjects, a set of research ethics principles for human experimentation. The millions of lives lost through sick and twisted operations can never be replaced, and to explain how unfair and misguided human experimentation is, is impossible.

Yet we must still analyze the other side of the argument. Somehow, there are people not only from the past, but from today’s age, that think human experimentation is a 'necessary evil' and is for the benefit of future generations (Hamblin). These people defend that it has helped advance our medical field and teach us the right ways in order to treat diseases, care for wounds, operate on a patient, prevent hypothermia, etc. In essence, human experimentation argued that way, is okay. In the case of Nazi Germany it was found acceptable because they were so blinded by their hatred for Jews that they felt what they were doing was to better the world. It is unclear whether they ever felt sympathy for the crimes they committed, but at the Nuremberg Trials many reported regrets, but those may have just been their last desperate attempts to avoid the death sentence. Another viewpoint is that these operations will someday help in our future and our kid's futures and then somehow we will all be better prepared for whatever ills may be thrown our way. In this context then, that statement holds true. Technically experimenting has advanced our world, especially in the field of medicine. These advancements, yes, have changed the lives of billions of people around the world – Sometimes for the better, as in the case of finding a cure for malaria and other epidemic diseases (Veracity). However the fact remains that there are more positive alternatives and we must carefully examine them because these problems are still existent today.

In fact, we may be severely underestimating the amount of people in this world that find human experimentation acceptable and may even still practice it. Dozens of articles can be found on recent and even current cases occurring. In 1965, which was still only 47 years ago The Department of Defense used human test subjects in order to test the radiation of a VX nerve agent in Alaska. According to Native American scholar Dr. Andrea Smith, “... Alaska Native populations were ideal laboratories because they were geographically isolated, and no scandals would come out because no one knew what was going on there” (Hansen). This simply goes to show that we are amazingly undereducated about how many things like this still occur. Society is kept so in the dark as this continues on right under their noses. Two other modern examples, occurring only in the 1990’s reveal bone-chilling cases. The first of which took place in Uganda. Doctors funded by the United States traveled there with the task of treating the country’s HIV-infected women. However, when they were there the doctors withheld the AIDS drug AZT to all of the women, which left their unborn children unprotected and at risk as well. In the other case, Pfizer representatives traveled to Nigeria to test drugs on 200 children during a 1996 meningitis epidemic without their parents consent; 11 died while others suffered mental retardation. When Nigeria’s attorney general pressed charges, Pfizer hired investigators to dig up any evidence of corruption against him to pressure him to drop the case, according to U.S. cables leaked in 2010 (Hansen). Just because these cases that are kept from us are not as severe as more infamous cases, such as the Holocaust; does not make them any less important or devastating. Innocent lives are being taken advantage of and it is sickening and wrong. There is one particular life that was also taken advantage of that is important to note when discussing human experimentation, consent, and all that it encompasses. This one person’s name is Henrietta Lacks.

Henrietta Lacks was a woman living in the ’50’s who suffered from cervical cancer. Looked at from one viewpoint, it is possible to say Henrietta was a human experimentation subject herself. From the opposing side, it could be seen as doctors attempting to help her, and save her life and prevent future cases such as hers. However, lines drawn tend to get hazy when it cones to ethical issues. Technically Henrietta signed a piece of paper giving permission to use her cells; but when she signed she was only thinking about saving her children because the doctors told her donating her cells would help them in the future. She had no idea her skin would turn black as coal, and she would be in the most pain of her life due to the doctors testing different treatment methods on her. And then her cells became famous, were launched into space, cloned, tested with nuclear radiation and so much more. Henrietta’s cells became a huge part of history and advanced our medical fields in ways we never imagined possible. But some would argue it was without her consent. So does the fact that she advanced the medical field compensate for her never knowing what they actually were doing with her cells? It turns out to be a matter of opinion in the end.

The experimentation on humans without their given consent is simply put, a crime against humanity. It has given our world a dark and disturbing past that many choose to ignore due to their own selfish ways; they feel no remorse and will never know what those people suffered through leaving them obtuse and close-minded to it all. Some may argue human experimentation is ethical, but it is not. It is an insult to who we are and what we stand for. We are taught the difference between right and wrong and should know better. Even when the EPA paid volunteers to breathe in concentrated diesel exhaust for up to two hours at a time, they should have known better. Many of the participants were elderly, some already had asthma and one woman was obese suffering with heart problems (Ahlert). The EPA conducted this experiment knowing full well what they were doing, and this was just in October of this year. There is no way to say what the future holds and if the practices will ever stop. However, we can only hope that with each passing day more people begin to realize how many lives they alter for the worse, and that there are other alternatives.

Works Cited

Ahlert, Arnold. "The EPA’s Disturbing Human Experiments." FrontPage

Magazine. FrontPageMag, 02 Oct. 2012. Web. 18 Nov. 2012.

Hamblin, Jacob D. "St. Cloud State University." Library Proxy:. ABC CLIO, 2005. Web. 18 Nov. 2012.

Hansen, Terri. "Unethical Medical Experiments Still a Possibility, Experts Say."

Indian Country Today Media Networkcom RSS. Indian Country, Mar. 2011. Web. 18 Nov. 2012.

"The History Place - Holocaust Timeline." The History Place - Holocaust Timeline.

N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Nov. 2012.

"Medical Experiments of the Holocaust and Nazi Medicine." Medical Experiments of the Holocaust and Nazi Medicine. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Nov. 2012.

"Nuremberg Trials." Nuremberg Trials. The Library of Congress- Military Legal Resources, 16 July 2010. Web. 20 Nov. 2012.

Portaluppi, Francesco, Michael H. Smolensky, and Yvan Touitou. "ETHICS AND METHODS FOR BIOLOGICAL RHYTHM RESEARCH ON ANIMALS AND HUMAN BEINGS." Chronobiology International: The Journal of Biological & Medical Rhythm Research 27.9-10 (2010): 1911-929. EBSCOhost. EBSCOhost. Web. 18 Nov. 2012.

"Search Results for Human Experimentation." Quotes.net. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Nov. 2012.

Veracity, Dani. "Human Medical Experimentation in the United States: The Shocking True History of Modern Medicine and Psychiatry." Human Medical Experimentation in the United States: The Shocking True History of Modern Medicine and Psychiatry (1833-1965). Natural News, 06 Mar. 2006. Web. 20 Nov. 2012.