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In an age where technology is rapidly advancing and societal values and roles are changing dramatically, ethical issues are becoming increasingly more complex. This is evidenced when human beings are used as subjects of research investigations. What does the conduct of research ethically involve? What are the rights of human subjects?
Since the 1940s, the ethical conduct of researchers has received increasing attention because of the mistreatment of human research subjects in experimental projects (Burns & Grove, 1987). The most highly publicized of these were the Nazi medical experiments (Institute of Society, Ethics and the Life Sciences, 1976} and the Tuskegee Syphilis Study (Brandt, 1978). In the former, the programs of the Nazi regime included euthanasia and sterilization of those considered "racially impure" and medical experiments conducted on prisoners of war and those viewed as racially valueless. Experiments involved exposing subjects to high altitudes and freezing temperatures, bacteria, poisons and untested drugs. Subjects were coerced or forced to participate and as a result of these experiments frequently died or sustained permanent physical or mental damage. These experiments and the resultant mistreatment of human subjects led to the development of the Nuremberg Code in 1949 for the protection of human subjects in research investigations (See Figure 1).
The Tuskegee Syphilis Study was initiated by the United States Public Health Service hi 1932 and continued for 40 years. The purpose of the study was to determine the natural course of the disease in black males. Research subjects included 400 black males with untreated syphilis and a control group of 200 black males without syphilis. The subjects were not informed as to the purpose or the procedures of the experiment. They were examined periodically but none received treatment for syphilis even when penicillin became available in the 1950s. In fact, information about...