From 1940 to 1970, more than 4,000 radiation experiments were performed on tens

Question

From 1940 to 1970, more than 4,000 radiation experiments were performed on tens of thousands of Americans, many of them poor and uneducated, without their informed consent. Examples of alleged incidents: children in a Massachusetts orphanage were fed radioisotopes; 829 pregnant Tennessee women were fed radioactive iron; patients in Rochester, New York were injected with plutonium; cancer patients in Cincinnati received heavy doses of gamma rays. Not all of these experiments can be attributed to researchers' ignorance of the harmful effects of radiation; the main purpose of the experiments was to identify those effects rather than to cure the patients. Even so, the researchers do not seem to have thought they were committing a moral offense. Were they?

Explanation / Answer

Note: This response is in UK English, please paste the response to MS Word and you should be able to spot discrepancies easily. You may elaborate the answer based on personal views or your classwork if necessary.

(Answer) It is very obvious that they were committing a moral offence. One might argue that ethical codes were not as clearly outlined during the past decades as they are today. However, prior to famous ethical precepts like the Nuremberg code, the Americans were still under oath to the American constitution. This constitution declared that every citizen had the right to life and liberty. Conducting experiments on individuals without their permission would be a corruption of that liberty. Therefore, it was a serious offence now and even back then.

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