Controversial Experiments

IRB and Important Ethical Guidelines

The National Research Act was created in 1974 that led to the appointment of a national commission charged with protecting human subjects participating in research and the creation of ethical guidelines. These guidelines were described in the Belmont Report and legalized in 1978. To enforce the ethical standards, institutions created IRBs.

While extensive, there are three important ethical considerations detailed by the Belmont Report. The first consideration of the Belmont Report is that participants are treated with respect, and is enforced by the requirement for researchers to obtain informed consent from participants. Informed consent is information given to participants explaining any potential risks involving the research. The informed consent document should include detailed information about the purpose of the research without divulging information that would influence the results. Informed consent must be voluntary, and the person giving consent must have the comprehension, or ability to understand the information, to give consent.

The next ethical consideration is beneficence, or considerations of the potential benefits of the research. The potential benefits need to outweigh the risks to participants. Establishing beneficence establishes the value of the experiment as evidence for why it should occur. Finally, the third ethical consideration is justice, or fair standards the researchers used to target a particular sample population. Researchers need to explain why the chosen participant population is needed, as opposed to experiments that use a certain participant population because it is convenient.

The consideration of justice protects at-risk populations, or groups that could have difficulty understanding what the experiment involves or do not have full control over their decision to participate in the research. Based on these standards, children, individuals with disabilities, individuals who are incarcerated, and groups that constitute an ethnic or racial minority are considered at-risk populations. Unfortunately, previous experiments have exploited these populations, and the IRB requires a more complex review to ensure their protection. Looking at the criteria to protect human subjects can seem complicated, but examining controversial experiments provides an understanding of why they were developed. The next section provides examples of three controversial experiments conducted before the enactment of the Belmont Report, and explains how they coincide or conflict with the ethical guidelines of experiments that are followed today.

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