Historic Research

Atomic Energy Commission and the Department of Defense

The United States Atomic Energy Commission and the Department of Defense has historically conducted exploratory radiation research. Human radiation experiments are further examples of non-consensual research to the underprivileged and disadvantaged in society.

http://www.gpc.edu/~shale/humanities/composition/assignments/experiment/atomic.html

The Belmont Report: Ethical Principles and Guidelines for Research Involving Human Subjects

This was developed by the National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioral Research. It proposes three basic principles to guide the protection of human subjects in research; Respect for Persons, Beneficence, and Justice.

http://www.fda.gov/oc/ohrt/irbs/belmont.html

Declaration of Helsinki - World Medical Association

The Declaration of Helsinki was adopted by the World Medical Association in June 1964 to promote ethical research on human subjects in research. Principle statements include the role of the physician to uphold ethical treatment and to promote respect for all human beings.

http://www.wma.net/e/policy/b3.htm

Fernald Radiation Study

In the late 1940s and early 1950s the young male residents of the Fernald School were given radioactive milk as part of an experiment in cooperation with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Although the children were not harmed by the experiments, the informed consent process was questionable.

http://tis.eh.doe.gov/ohre/roadmap/achre/chap7_5.html

http://the-tech.mit.edu/V114/N28/fernald.28n.html

The Nuremberg Trial and the Nuremberg Code

The Nuremberg Trial judged twenty-two Nazi leaders for crimes committed against prisoners in Nazi concentration camps. Among them were Nazi physicians who had conducted unethical research on prisoners and citizens. As a result of these trials, the Nuremberg Code was adopted, the first international code on ethical research practice.

http://www.courttv.com/casefiles/nuremberg

http://www.ushmm.org/research/doctors/Nuremberg_Code.htm

Tuskegee Syphilis Study

The Tuskegee Syphilis Study, conducted 1932 - 1972 in Macon County Alabama, is an example of unjustified medical research on human subjects. The United States Public Health Service study harmed innocent individuals in order to conduct government research. In 1997, President Clinton apologized for these actions.

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0762136.html

http://hsc.virginia.edu/hs-library/historical/apology

The Willowbrook State School Hepatitis Studies

Medical tests conducted between 1963 and 1966 at the Willowbrook State School, a New York State Institution for Mentally Defective Persons, illustrate the need for research protocol. Human subjects at the school were injected with infectious hepatitis to test the effects of gamma globulin on the disease.

http://www.stanford.edu/dept/DoR/hs/History/his07.html

The Doctors Trial: The Medical Case of the Subsequent Nuremberg Proceedings

http://www.ushmm.org/research/doctors/code_expl.htm

http://www.emhr.net/download.php?id=4

At Your Own Risk by Michael D. Lemonick et al. / Time 4/22/2002.

Full-text of the article from General Reference Center Gold / InfoTrac

Ethics and Clinical Research by HK Beecher / New England Journal of Medicine, 274:1354-60, June 16, 1966.

http://sladen.hfhs.org/IRB/images/nejm-beecher.pdf

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