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Asked by ogoldfinch09 to Asif, Laura, Lena, Sean, Viv on 19 Mar 2012. This question was also asked by drama, sparks.
Question: How far into the moral grey zone do you think scientists can go before their research becomes unethical?
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Lena Ciric answered on 19 Mar 2012:
This is another great question.
I’m lucky as I don’t work with animals or human participants, so the ethical question doesn’t really come up. I do sometimes worry about the amount of waste that research can generate, but ultimate I believe that the advance made are worth it.
If you do want to work with animals or people, to be able to do this, you have to apply for permission form ethical committees and explain exactly how you wish to use them and why it is necessary. It is quite difficult to obtain permission to do this, so studies that are deemed unethical by the law cannot go on. This is not to say that somewhere in the world unethical studies are not taking place, but I don’t believe that there are many.
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Sean Murphy answered on 19 Mar 2012:
What Lena said is correct, there are ethical committees in each university that oversees all research conducted on animals or humans (or with their cells). The use of animals in research, teaching, and testing is acceptable ONLY if it promises to contribute to understanding of fundamental biological principles, or to the development of knowledge that can reasonably be expected to benefit humans or animals. Researchers must prepare scientific protocols for review by the committee with a view to replace, reduce, and refine animal use whenever possible. If we do not satisfy strict rules made by the committee we will not be allowed to conduct our research.
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Laura Waters answered on 23 Mar 2012:
I am very much in favour of thinking hard about ethics and morals, that is why my research is all about developing alternatives to animal testing as I think it is unnecessary and therefore unethical.
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