Unethical experiment

This is a typical case of the ends justifying the means, and of a scientific experiment conducted by unethical means with illegal procedures.

In the experiment, 25 children aged 6 to 8 were fed genetically modified rice, known as golden rice, to test whether the beta carotene contained in the rice would provide the children with enough vitamin A. However, the fact that the rice was genetically modified was withheld from the children's parents when they signed the papers permitting their children to take part in the test.

That a scientist and an official from the Zhejiang Academy of Medical Sciences used the academy's stamp to renew the ethical review that had expired was an act of serious fraud.

Despite the punishments meted out to the three scientists involved, the nature of the case should remind us of the dangers a scientific experiment may have when the scientists involved put aside legal procedure and ethical considerations to achieve the result they want.

The scientists involved knew what they were doing, they knew the rules they were supposed to follow, and they were well aware that the parents should have been informed that the rice their children would be fed was genetically modified.

Although the genetically modified rice might not harm the children, as these scientists have claimed, the scientists have stolen the trust that ordinary people have placed in them and the experiments they conduct.

Scientific experiments, those using humans as subjects in particular, are supposed to follow strict approval procedures and ethical examinations. What these three Chinese scientists have done points to serious loopholes in these procedures. Loopholes which they took advantage of to keep not only the Zhejiang Academy of Medical Sciences in the dark about the GM rice they were using in the experiment and their lack of an up-to-date ethical review document, but also the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention and its provincial counterpart in Central China's Hunan province.

This case is also a warning to other scientists. However significant and beneficial their experiment may be to people's health or progress in a particular field, following proper procedure and the code of professional ethics should always be top priorities.

There has been no clue whether there were any interests between the experiment and the units involved. If there were the leaders involved should also be punished.

(China Daily 12/11/2012 page8)