Global Context
Examples of exploitation of people for medical research can be seen all around the world. One of the most well-known examples of exploitation when it came to medical research, or should I say lack of medical research is referred to as The Thalidomide Tragedy. From 1957 to 1961 there was a new drug called Thalidomide and it was prescribed to women during their pregnancy to try and prevent morning sickness when it hit the market it Germany. It was advertised as a drug that was completely safe. What was once known as a simple helpful drug ended up becoming one of the darkest episodes in pharmaceutical history. It soon became clear that “The drug interfered with the babies' normal development, causing many of them to be born with phocomelia, resulting in shortened, absent, or flipper-like limbs. A German newspaper soon reported 161 babies were adversely affected by thalidomide, leading the makers of the drug—who had ignored reports of the birth defects associated with the it—to finally stop distribution within Germany.” (Fintel 2009). Within a few years, thalidomide was used all over the world from Europe to Australia to Japan and there were approximately 10,000 children that were affected. That led to the ban of thalidomide in most countries by 1961. Although thalidomide was considered a tragedy it is considered as a lesson when it came to drug safety and regulation, it helped to create more ethical laws.
Another perfect example of clear exploitation of people for medical research can be The Puerto Rico Pill Trials. In 1954-1955 two men by the name of Gregory Pincus and John Rock believed that they had finally created an oral contraceptive. But because they hadn’t tested it on a lot of people there was no way that they would get the FDA approval. Because there was a strong opposition in the U.S to birth control, they took a trip to Puerto Rico. There were no anti-birth control laws there and birth control was widely suggested because of the dense population, so they decided it was the perfect place to start their human trials. They decided that it would be the best if he tried the pills on women that were poor and uneducated because they believed they would do anything they told them to do. Although the pill turned out to be 100% effective, it also led to “17% of the women in the study complained of nausea, dizziness, headaches, stomach pain and vomiting.” (PBS, 1999). The side effects were dismissed and not paid much attention to. In later years, this experiment was considered exploitation because “The women had only been told that they were taking a drug that prevented pregnancy, not that this was a clinical trial, that the Pill was experimental or that there was a chance of potentially dangerous side effects.” (PBS, 1999). The women were used as guinea pigs which they angrily shared out later on newspapers like the Chicago Tribune and news organizations like PBS.
Aside from the thalidomide tragedy and the Puerto Rican Pill Trial there are many other examples (like the Tuskegee Syphilis Study), in which it is clear that there was exploitation of people because of the medical research conducted on them. There are not many economic or environmental impacts that happen along with it but it is clear that the social impacts happen to the people involved in the research medically wise. Political wise, these events make it clear that research involving humans were less regulated back then which is why we have laws that are a bit stricter when it comes to things like that. A change in one global issue connects to another because when things start to get more serious in one, they get serious everywhere; it’s almost like a domino effect. A reason why global issues are so difficult to address is because there are things going on everywhere and people in different places do not always agree. But by understanding the interconnectedness of issues like exploitation of people for medical research steps can be taken because the way people are exploited and the reasons why are very similar.
Another perfect example of clear exploitation of people for medical research can be The Puerto Rico Pill Trials. In 1954-1955 two men by the name of Gregory Pincus and John Rock believed that they had finally created an oral contraceptive. But because they hadn’t tested it on a lot of people there was no way that they would get the FDA approval. Because there was a strong opposition in the U.S to birth control, they took a trip to Puerto Rico. There were no anti-birth control laws there and birth control was widely suggested because of the dense population, so they decided it was the perfect place to start their human trials. They decided that it would be the best if he tried the pills on women that were poor and uneducated because they believed they would do anything they told them to do. Although the pill turned out to be 100% effective, it also led to “17% of the women in the study complained of nausea, dizziness, headaches, stomach pain and vomiting.” (PBS, 1999). The side effects were dismissed and not paid much attention to. In later years, this experiment was considered exploitation because “The women had only been told that they were taking a drug that prevented pregnancy, not that this was a clinical trial, that the Pill was experimental or that there was a chance of potentially dangerous side effects.” (PBS, 1999). The women were used as guinea pigs which they angrily shared out later on newspapers like the Chicago Tribune and news organizations like PBS.
Aside from the thalidomide tragedy and the Puerto Rican Pill Trial there are many other examples (like the Tuskegee Syphilis Study), in which it is clear that there was exploitation of people because of the medical research conducted on them. There are not many economic or environmental impacts that happen along with it but it is clear that the social impacts happen to the people involved in the research medically wise. Political wise, these events make it clear that research involving humans were less regulated back then which is why we have laws that are a bit stricter when it comes to things like that. A change in one global issue connects to another because when things start to get more serious in one, they get serious everywhere; it’s almost like a domino effect. A reason why global issues are so difficult to address is because there are things going on everywhere and people in different places do not always agree. But by understanding the interconnectedness of issues like exploitation of people for medical research steps can be taken because the way people are exploited and the reasons why are very similar.