I.

INTRODUCTION

II. CASES AND ITS

MORALITY

III. BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH

AND THE CHURCH’S
TEACHING

IV. SCIENCE AND

TECHNOLOGY AT THE
SERVICE OF HUMAN
PERSON

V. CONCLUSION
1. The progress of research and science is a manifestation of
Man’s ingenuity. It is a gift to preserve his life and
his environment. The use of medicines and other
medical apparatus which supports life are the fruit of
Man’s discoveries.

2. These discoveries came about because of

Experimentations.
1. Vivisection, an ancient experimentation performed on living animals
as well as man.

2. SULFANILAMIDE – drugs for infections tested on the bodies

of prisoners.

3. EXTRACTS FROM THE MUCOUS GLANDS OF THE

MOSQUITOES to produce malaria.- healthy prisoners were
deliberately infected .

4. POISON – were tested to determine their effect.

5. SEALED CHAMBERS, to determine the endurance of the

human body .
THE NUREMBERG CODE

1. The voluntary consent of the human subject is absolutely essential.

2. The experiment should be such as to yield fruitful results

for the good of society .

3. The experiment should be so designed and based on the

results of animal experimentation .

4. The experiment should avoid all unnecessary physical and

mental suffering and injury.

5. No experiment should be conducted where there is a prior reason to

believe that death or disabling injury will occur. Experimenter can
serve as subject.
THE NUREMBERG CODE

6. The degree of risk to be taken should never exceed that

of the problem to be solved by the experiment.

7. Proper preparations should be made and adequate facilities are

to be provided .

8. The experiment should be conducted only by scientifically

qualified persons.

9. During the course of the experiment the human subject

should be at liberty to bring the experiment to an end .

10. During the course of the experiment the scientist in charge

must be prepared to terminate the experiment at any stage.
JUSTIFICATIONS OF HUMAN EXPERIMENTATION

“investigations involving non human organisms are essential,

but ultimate tests for the correctness and effectiveness of medical
treatments must involve human beings as research subjects.” (Timbreza)

Experimentation on human subjects is necessary if we want to develop

new drugs, new therapies or new preventives for serious diseases that
beset mankind.

The basic moral issue is this: the purpose of human experimentation

is not to help the experimental subject. The experimental patient is
treated just as a means for the future patients.
 KINDS OF EXPERIMENTS

1. Therapeutic Experiment (Medical Therapy), is designed

and conducted for the benefit of the experimental subject,
either to diagnose or to treat an illness.

2. Non therapeutic (Medical Research), is an experiment

not designed to benefit the experimental subject
directly, but only to derive knowledge that can be utilized in
the treatment of other persons with similar ailments.
 INFORMED VOLUNTARY CONSENT

“It is the notion that consent must be given before an

individual becomes an experimental subject and considered
to be the basic requirement that must be fulfilled for a
medical research to be morally legitimate.”

It is thus a recognition of an individual’s autonomy-the

right to self determination, or the right to make
decisions concerning one’s own life.
 ELEMENTS OF INFORMED CONSENT

1. Explain the procedures and their purposes, and make clear which
are experimental.

2. Underscore the risks and discomforts that can be reasonable

expected.

3. Describe the possible benefits that the research will yield.

4. Point out appropriate alternatives that might be helpful to the subject.

5. Offer to answer any questions about the procedures.

6. Make clear to the subject that he/she is free without penalty to

withdraw consent and abandon the research project at any time.
 OTHER EXPERIMENTS

DRUG TESTING – refers to the medical procedure whereby a new

drug is tried and experimented to determine its effectivity, usefulness,
and other effects.

RESEARCH INVOLVING CHILDREN

RESEARCH INVOLVING PRISONERS

 The Church intervenes in this field of progress because she recognizes
the need to respect the rights and duties of man.

The criteria are, “the respect, defence, and promotion of man,

his primary and fundamental right to life, his dignity as a person who
is endowed with a spiritual and with moral responsibility and who is
called to beatific communion with God

“Thus, the Church once more puts forward the divine law in order
to accomplish the work of truth and liberation.”
 Thus science and technology require, for their own intrinsic
meaning, an unconditional respect for the fundamental
criteria of the moral law: that is to say, they must be at the
service of the human reason, of his inalienable rights and his
true and integral good according to the design and will of God.

“science without conscience can only lead to man’s ruin”.

Medical researchers should not only be fair to patients; they
should also demonstrate loving care and concern for them.
They should not be taken advantage of. Truth telling is of
great importance in using humans as subjects of research.
 Reporter:

Bro. Francis Paul S. Escaño, RCJ