Unethical Clinical Trials and the Third-World Countries

Although human experimentation has greatly increased our understanding of the human body and diseases, there are still occasions when limits of morality are crossed during clinical trials. Illiteracy, poverty, corrupt health practitioners, and lack of law enforcement in developing countries have led to an increase in the exploitation of people as guinea pigs for trial purposes. These unethical clinical trials in Third World countries have caused an inferiority complex and a general mistrust in the healthcare system. It is the duty of the physician and scientists involved in medical research to protect the life, health, and integrity of research subjects, for which strict regulations are a necessity.