A group of researchers wants to develop an experiment to determine whether a new drug effectively treats cancer. The researchers
want to inject the drug in hamsters first to determine whether there are any potential serious side effects. Part A: what are some possible ethical issues to this type of testing?
Part B: while conducting the experiment, the researchers find the cancer stops spreading, and they declare the new drug is responsible. Is this a good assumption? Explain.
Part A: The animals are used for examining and determining the effect of a particular new drug for the treatment of the diseases and disorders before they are examined over humans. This practice is called as clinical trial.
The ethical issue associated with given type of testing is that animals have right to live and survive. They should not be subjected to the treatment where they experience harm or even death.
Part B: Those assigned to the control take a sugar pill. The only thing you want to vary across groups when you're conducting an experiment is the treatment. Since taking pills is a part of taking medication (the treatment), medical experiments often employ something called a placebo-controlled study where outcomes for those who are randomly assigned to take the medication are compared to outcomes for those who are randomly assigned to take a sugar pill. The sugar pill is expected to have no effect, so it serves as a useful baseline to compare the treatment to.
