COMMENT: Ethics Needed In Medical Research

[Murray Charters <mcharters@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Comment: Ethics Needed In Medical Research
( 2003-10-31 07:35) (China Daily)

The general public wouldn't have paid much attention to the revised Ministry of 
Public Health regulations on assisted
reproductive research and human sperm banks, were it not for the media hype on 
the controversial experiments in South
China's Guangzhou involving the technique of human egg nucleus transfer.

The three new administrative regulations, announced by the Ministry of Public 
Health on July 10, went into effect on
October 1. They defined, among other items, ethical principles in relation to 
the use of assisted reproductive
technology and human sperm bank management.

Following the Universal Declaration of the Human Genome and Human Rights, 
adopted unanimously by the general conference
of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization 
(UNESCO) in 1997, the new regulation states
that "human cloning is forbidden.''

The regulation on the ethical principles on assisted reproductive technology 
specifically stipulates that "no medical
workers should use the techniques of human egg cell nucleus and human egg 
nucleus transfers for infertility treatment
before the problem of safety is resolved.''

However, the new regulations had received little media attention. Until the 
mid-October, when the results of the Sino-
US co-operative research project involving the use of human egg nucleus 
transfer at the Medical College of Dr Sun Yat-
sen University in Guangzhou were presented at a national reproductive research 
conference in the United States.

Medical professionals, followed by the general public, began to question the 
ethical and medical implications of the
experiments.

However, the incident and subsequent remarks from some researchers involved 
should serve as admonitions. The public
must remain vigilant against such medical malpractice and call for effective 
legislation, public caution and enhanced
social responsibility on the part of scientists.

Similar experiments in the name of science and international co-operation must 
be better supervised and managed, as
some of these moves may actually harm the well-being of the society, the 
environment, the ecology and the mankind.

In their interviews with the local media, the researchers involved seemed 
anything but repentant. They claimed they had
good intentions to help infertile women to have children of their own. They 
emphasized that the experiment they carried
out should in no way be linked to human cloning, despite the fact that the 
technique seems to be perilously close.

They even suggested that they'd only moved a little "faster,'' by doing the 
experiments in China that have already been
banned in many developed countries such as the United States. And they claimed 
only boldness and even a spirit of
adventure could lead to further scientific discoveries and make our lives even 
better.

Their responses to the media and medical criticism are a cause for concern. 
They seem to have forsaken their cardinal
responsibility as scientists who should place the general good of society above 
their mere research interests.
Traditional medical treatment is helping most people with infertility problems.

By international standards, any clinical medical experiments must be based on 
the following three criteria. The
procedure is assured of safety to human beings, proven viable in animal 
research and thoroughly considered for all of
its social and ethical implications.

Despite the researchers' argument, the now banned research project satisfied 
none of the above criteria. For one thing,
they cannot explain how much the microstructures of the human eggs are 
disrupted during the extraction and transfer of
the egg nucleus. The hazards that nuclear transfer could pose to children who 
may be born as a result remain unknown.

Even though the researchers claim they've done experiments on mice, experiments 
on lab animals alone cannot justify
going straight into actual human experiments.

True enough, as a result of boldness and adventure, sciences have made much 
headway over the past two centuries. Human
beings have been able to guard against many diseases and live longer. We've 
seen the land on earth altered almost
beyond recognition from 200 years ago.

But we must acknowledge that scientific advances have also been accompanied by 
environmental degradation, reductions in
biodiversity, global warming and new diseases. We will also encounter 
unforeseeable complications that now challenge
the continuing well-being of human society and the earth.

We must be aware that some scientists from developed countries make use of the 
ignorance and eagerness of their
colleagues in the developing countries to carry out experiments banned in their 
own nations.

That's why many conscientious scientists call for exercising caution. Research 
does not always produce a panacea for
all our physical and environmental problems.

That's why UNESCO member countries unanimously pledged in Universal Declaration 
of the Human Genome that "treatment or
diagnosis affecting an individual's genome shall be undertaken only after 
rigorous and prior assessment of the
potential risks and benefits pertaining thereto and in accordance with any 
other requirement of national law.''

And the declaration also states "assessment of the risks and benefits 
pertaining to research on the human genome to be
carried out and abuse to be prevented'' in the framework of international 
co-operation with developing countries.

In fact, although the 2001 Ministry of Public Health regulations did not 
specifically ban the human egg nucleus
transfer, the ministry did require the researchers to seek extensive 
consultations and consent from ethical boards and
the ministry.

But the researchers involved in the project have undertaken none of the 
consultations, even with the knowledge that the
same procedure was already banned in the United States.

However complete the new ministry regulations are, there are ways to get around 
them.

So the public, the scientific institutions and the legal departments must team 
up to work out specific ways to enforce
the new regulations. They should also make the researchers socially and 
ethically accountable for their conduct.

The scientific and medical world should dishonour those who disregard the 
well-being of the humanity and who forsake
their social and ethical obligations.

We human beings are enjoying what we have achieved, but are also suffering from 
the mistakes we've made.

We should not leave our posterity an environmentally, ecologically and socially 
degenerated earth because of the errors
we've made in the name of science.

SOURCE: China Daily


Reference:

Universal Declaration of the Human Genome and Human Rights 1997


Pregnancy Created Using Egg Nucleus Of Infertile Woman


Controversial fertility technique is successful


Reproductive technology - Not cloning


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