Volunteers

Aaron During the creation of a new medicine or surgical technique, the developing treatment must undergo rigorous testing to ensure safe and effective results in human beings. As the treatment is perfected it passes through multiple trials or phases, starting with deveolpment, and then progressing to cell cultures (such as HeLa), and animal trials. Eventually however, the treatment "must be tested in humans" as of now, there is no exception to this rule (Wendler). When newly created drugs are tested on tissues, scientists scrutinize the samples for any harmful effects, checking to make sure that the drug is compatible in living cells. The animal testing phase builds off of the initial results of the tissue trials, but instead focuses on the drug's effects on entire organ systems. Finally, human testing is used to iron out final issues with the product, as the leap from test animal to human biology can have unforseen side effects, not visible during the animal testing phase. Human testing is a medical and, debatably, a moral gray area. The risks to the patient himself are great considering their involvement with incomplete treatments, even if major complications do not develop the patient is essentially treated like an medical guinea pig for the duration of the experiment. However, despite the confusion surrounding the morality of human testing, it, like all medical and scientific proceedures, is bound by a set of rules. These rules and guidelines are collectively known as the Nuremberg Code, and are the result of a courts judgement on the atrocities commited by Nazi Doctors during World War II. The code itself is important as it is, "often regarded as the first set of formal guidelines for clinical research" ever to be devised. (Wendler) For a system where morality, safety, and the human element are so deeply ingrained, the Nuremburg Codes are extremely important.

The development of new drugs follows a certain pattern in the scientific community, depicted below for easy reference. ||
 * [[image:http://www.nichd.nih.gov/images/clinicalresearchefforts_1off.gif width="107" height="36" caption="Develop the study concept" link="http://www.nichd.nih.gov/health/clinicalresearch/steps/developconcept.cfm"]]

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