Essay on Sonia Shah's review of the Constaant Gardner

On Sonia Shah's review of the Constaant Gardner - Essay Example It can be at times a matter of life and death and the companies’ failure to give out all necessary details regarding something that concerns the life of another human being is immoral. Granted that they are being paid substantially, this is still a moral judgment call that should be adhered to religiously. They should ensure that their subjects comprehend all encompassing particulars pertaining to the scope and effects of the study. By virtue of common sense, a good policy should to first give out an answer form or through an interview, guarantee that a person should first understand what he or she is about to go through before actually including them in any study. Of course this would be next to impossible as there are a number or experiments wherein the danger would not be worth the risk of any human being. On the other hand, we have the different side of the story which portrays the inevitability of such practices in pharmacology. It is as the author puts it, our biggest blunder to disregard the risks that are inherently involved in the development of most drugs. This is the major reason why drug companies have set up shop in regions such as Eastern Europe, Asia, Latin America and especially Africa. An American is said to purchase about 10 prescription drugs yearly while the ratio of those who partake in experiments is 20 to less than one. Those who do join in experiments are labeled as ‘guinea pigs’ and are perceived to have little to no choice on the matter (Shah, par. 10). There is such a need for these studies to be conducted and if the option for this is to take it to another country, then the big pharmaceutical companies would gladly take it there. If business can be conducted better elsewhere, then it becomes a no-brainer that they would up and go wherever it is. There is no question that test clinics are necessary to develop new drugs that should be able to help humanity. As long as these