The AP has reported that in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the National Institute of Health used foster children to test AID/HIV drugs without the required independent monitors. Hundreds of children were subject to these tests and were mostly minorities. They ranged in age from infant to teens. The conductors of the test argue that they were merely giving the same opportunity to foster children that were available to those more well-to-do. They also argue that independent advocates were not required in those cases.
One may want to liken it tot he Tuskegee experiments conducted on hundreds of African-American males last century. The important distinction between the two is that no child was left untreated as part of the experiment. But despite this distinction, it does not help the image of the scientific community in the eyes of minorities.
The State of . . .morals in science. How similar is this to testing embryos? Those who are against it view embryos as humans that should be afforded rights. Also, similar to the foster kids, stem cell research opponents feel that embryos have no advocates to fight for them. However, one major difference between the two is that no one doubts that the foster children have Constitutional rights. The debate rages on with embryos.
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