Some people have wanted to be on the forefront of the medical frontier but not put forth the effort and patience required to obtain a seven-year degree. Now by loaning their bodies to research, they can make medical news. However, the pictures of such patients may appear in the obituaries, rather than on the front page.
According to Time magazine, in 1999 four people of reasonably good health submitted themselves to the research of clinical technicians and wound up dead. As cases like this have surfaced in recent years, it has become apparent that the rights of human subjects are not being adequately addressed, if they are addressed at all. According to a patient information group, CenterWatch, more than 20 million people participated in more than 60,000 clinical trials in the past year. It is time for the government to get involved in the regulation of clinical trials, or the medical industry will continue to poke, prod and kill without regulations or punishments.
Clinical trials do not always involve testing innovative medications. Many times, testing is used to discover the effects of a chemical on the human body, or experiments are done to further the knowledge of science. In one such case, Dr. Alkis Togias of Bayview Medical Center wanted to observe airway irritation in asthmatics. He presented a trial to the institutional review board that proposed human inhalation of the chemical irritant hexamethonium, and it passed. According to Time, nine months later, one of the volunteers, Ellen Roche, died of respiratory failure. The government’s interest was then sparked, but this fatality could have been avoided through strict enforcement of regulations.
Another clinical trial that risked human exposure to a chemical was a 1998 trial that involved a large number of college-aged Nebraskans who were paid $460 each to swallow a pill containing pesticide. They ingested the active chemical in Raid, which was later discovered to cause brain damage in laboratory rats as well as weakness and vomiting in children. Before a drug is tested on humans, it should be tested on animals. Had these adults known of the possibility of brain damage, they may not have eagerly participated. It is with confusing release forms and unclear details that human subjects are finding themselves in worse condition than before the medications.
Also, budget increases have left medical researchers with endless opportunities to create new drugs, and the lack of regulations has left them with endless possibilities to test without fearing personal responsibility. It is estimated that about one-fourth of all experimental trials have no governmental regulation, as stated in Time. With people volunteering their bodies to help further science as well as receive treatments, it is essential that they be protected in case of an unforeseen response.
Many people participate in clinical trials due to terminal illness and a lack of options for survival. It is understandable that if death is imminent, the fear of taking a risk with an experimental drug is usually not as significant. However, in recent years, it was discovered that certain drugs have instilled a false hope in patients, and in some cases, sped up mortality.
Recently, this issue made its way to Congress, and the fight has begun to see whether humans will be afforded the same protection that animals are afforded. With so much concentration on animal rights, researchers have taken advantage of lost interest in human rights. It is up to Congress to make human testing an issue on the American agenda. These bills will determine the worth of human life and whether the government will begin protecting its citizens.