Guinea Pigging for $2000 a Bite

The Seattle Biomedical Research Institute wants to infect healthy human subjects with malaria to test a new vaccine. The Center will be offering $2000 to the human guinea pigs willing to rent their bodies for the greater good. Is it ethical? Depends who you ask. Here is a study with all risk and no benefit to the healthy subjects, other than the two grand, and money is not supposed to count as a benefit. The money is the problem, of course, as it always is. The money is used to induce the needy to be subjects, not for altruism, but for the basic necessities of life or maybe just some spending money. If you doubt that, see if there are any rich folks you know who want to volunteer.

        The researchers seem certain that they can quickly cure anyone infected and that the worst the subjects will experience are some flu like symptoms. Where have we heard that before?

     Stay tuned.

Alan Milstein