Did any of the protected, special classes of human subjects surprise you?
Guidelines and regulations have therefore been put in place to ensure human and animal subjects are treated in the most humane way possible during research and clinical studies. It is therefore common to find that there are some special protected classes of human subjects who are subject to additional regulations if they are to be included in a study. These special classes range from pregnant women and even unborn children (fetuses), children and minors, prisoners, minorities, students, employees and people with limited ability to voluntarily participate in a study. I was surprised that prisoners are a protected class but I later saw it as being valid as they are in a vulnerable position where they can be taken advantage of by virtue of being in prison with limited rights and movement (IRB-HSR, 2018).
Do you think animals should be used in biomedical research, for cosmetics testing, or testing for common household products?
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I agree that animals should be used for testing products to be used by humans. This is a major way of finding out the effect that a product may have on humans which is vital knowledge to have before testing on human subjects is carried out. It should however be carried out under circumstances that do not put the animal under unnecessary pain and suffering ( NRCCUSMA, 2004).
Should studies that inflict pain on humans or animals be allowed? If so, under what circumstances?
Studies which involve the infliction of pain on humans or animals should be restricted and only be allowed under special circumstances where the researchers justify to regulatory authorities that it the pain afflicted is necessary and the subjects will be alleviated of the pain at the earliest time possible. This may include studies such as clinical testing of pain killers, or research on various conditions that cause pain in the subjects e.g. arthritis. The main considerations in studies involving pain is that the subjects are given enough pain management to keep them out of significant pain and if that is not happening, a justification has to be there that the pain the subjects undergo is limited to that which is scientifically necessary (Carbone, 2011).
References
Carbone, L. (2011). Pain in Laboratory Animals: The Ethical and Regulatory Imperatives. PLoS ONE , 6 (9), e21578. Retrieved from http://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0021578
Institutional Review Board for Health Sciences Research (IRB-HSR)(2018). Vulnerable Subjects. Available at http://www.virginia.edu/vpr/irb/hsr/vulnerable_subjects.html
National Research Council (US) Committee to Update Science, Medicine, and Animals, NRCCUSMA (2004). Safety Testing . Science, Medicine, and Animals. Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US); Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK24645/
