RESUMO
Gain-of-function (GoF) studies to understand factors affecting transmissibility of potentially pandemic pathogens are controversial. The European Academies Science Advisory Council (EASAC) recently published consensus recommendations relating to GoF research review and management on self-regulation and harmonization; bioethical considerations; benefit-risk assessment; biosafety, and biosecurity advisory options; and publication of sensitive information. A layered approach to integration of responsibilities must include conforming to the stringent rules and guidance already existing. Further commitment is essential to extend the debate on issues worldwide.
Assuntos
Pesquisa Biomédica/métodos , Transmissão de Doença Infecciosa , Influenza Humana/transmissão , Infecções por Orthomyxoviridae/transmissão , Orthomyxoviridae/patogenicidade , Pandemias/prevenção & controle , Virologia/métodos , Academias e Institutos , Pesquisa Biomédica/ética , Pesquisa Biomédica/normas , Europa (Continente) , Humanos , Influenza Humana/virologia , Orthomyxoviridae/genética , Infecções por Orthomyxoviridae/virologia , Virologia/ética , Virologia/normas , VirulênciaAssuntos
Derramamento de Material Biológico/prevenção & controle , Guerra Biológica/prevenção & controle , Evolução Molecular Direcionada/legislação & jurisprudência , Regulamentação Governamental , Formulação de Políticas , Medidas de Segurança/legislação & jurisprudência , Virologia/legislação & jurisprudência , Animais , Pesquisa Biomédica/ética , Pesquisa Biomédica/legislação & jurisprudência , Humanos , Virus da Influenza A Subtipo H5N1/genética , Virus da Influenza A Subtipo H5N1/patogenicidade , Subtipo H7N9 do Vírus da Influenza A/genética , Subtipo H7N9 do Vírus da Influenza A/patogenicidade , Coronavírus Relacionado à Síndrome Respiratória Aguda Grave/genética , Coronavírus Relacionado à Síndrome Respiratória Aguda Grave/patogenicidade , Estados Unidos , United States Dept. of Health and Human Services/legislação & jurisprudência , Virologia/ética , Virulência/genéticaRESUMO
In 1960, J. Anthony Morris, a molecular biologist at the US National Institutes of Health conducted one of the only non-therapeutic clinical studies of the cancer virus SV40. Morris and his research team aimed to determine whether SV40 was a serious harm to human health, since many scientists at the time suspected that SV40 caused cancer in humans based on evidence from in vivo animal studies and experiments with human tissue. Morris found that SV40 had no significant effect but his claim has remained controversial among scientists and policymakers through the present day--both on scientific and ethical grounds. Why did Morris only conduct one clinical study on the cancer-causing potential of SV40 in healthy humans? We use the case to explain how empirical evidence and ethical imperatives are, paradoxically, often dependent on each other and mutually exclusive in clinical research, which leaves answers to scientific and ethical questions unsettled. This paper serves two goals: first, it documents a unique--and uniquely important--study of clinical research on SV40. Second, it introduces the concept of "the stowaway," which is a special type of contaminant that changes the past in the present moment. In the history of science, stowaways are misfortunes that nonetheless afford research that otherwise would have been impossible specifically by creating new pasts. This case (Morris' study) and concept (the stowaway) bring together history of science and philosophy of history for productive dialog.
Assuntos
Pesquisa Biomédica/história , Princípios Morais , Infecções por Polyomavirus/história , Prisões/história , Vírus 40 dos Símios , Infecções Tumorais por Vírus/história , Virologia/história , Animais , Pesquisa Biomédica/ética , Historiografia , História do Século XX , Humanos , Biologia Molecular/história , National Institutes of Health (U.S.)/história , Experimentação Humana não Terapêutica/ética , Experimentação Humana não Terapêutica/história , Infecções por Polyomavirus/virologia , Prisioneiros/história , Vírus Sinciciais Respiratórios , Ciência/ética , Ciência/história , Infecções Tumorais por Vírus/virologia , Estados Unidos , Virologia/éticaRESUMO
During the Third Reich, the biological institutes of the Kaiser Wilhelm Society (KWG, Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gesellschaft) underwent a substantial reorganization and modernization. This paper discusses the development of projects in the fields of biochemical genetics, virus research, radiation genetics, and plant genetics that were initiated in those years. These cases exemplify, on the one hand, the political conditions for biological research in the Nazi state. They highlight how leading scientists advanced their projects by building close ties with politicians and science-funding organizations and companies. On the other hand, the study examines how the contents of research were shaped by, and how they contributed to, the aims and needs of the political economy of the Nazi system. This paper therefore aims not only to highlight basic aspects of scientific development under Nazism, but also to provide general insights into the structure of the Third Reich and the dynamics of its war economy.