The Economist; Recent events highlight an unpleasant scientific practice: ethics dumping
Rich-world scientists conduct questionable experiments in poor countries
"Ethics dumping is the carrying out by researchers from one country
(usually rich, and with strict regulations) in another (usually less
well off, and with laxer laws) of an experiment that would not be
permitted at home, or of one that might be permitted, but in a way that
would be frowned on. The most worrisome cases involve medical research,
in which health, and possibly lives, are at stake. But other
investigations—anthropological ones, for example—may also be carried out
in a more cavalier fashion abroad. As science becomes more
international the risk of ethics dumping, both intentional and
unintentional, has risen. The suggestion in this case is that Dr He was
encouraged and assisted in his project by a researcher at an American
university."
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