Experiments with human beings

Referring to the release of hostages in Moscow, the American scientists A.L. Caplan and P. Sankar from the University of Pennsylvania, in an editorial of the American journal Science (1 November), called for research on the effects of biological and chemical weapons on human beings. This research 'involving biological or chemical weapons must necessarily involve exposure to toxic agents and levels of risk higher than those that exist in most research'.

Instead of guaranteeing the maximum protection for everybody, a proposal for a balance of goods should be involved: 'Yet national security now places a higher premium on studies that might pose similar risks, and many prospective subjects might wish to volunteer from a sense of duty or patriotism or for personal financial gain.'

Source: www.telepolis.de, 1 November 2002