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Constantino Gomez Pena

Professor Ogabra
English 1A
30 November 2015
Science Hasnt gone too far! It should be going further
In order to make advancements in science, and discover different methods of treating illness,
scientists have used various ways of research and experimentation. There are tests that are
conducted on animals determining the toxicity of pharmaceutical pills. However, animals are
alternative testing methods, there are various and more accurate ways of gathering data, such as
petri dishes, which are small, plastic or glass, circular dishes that have a broad range of research
uses; tissue growth, virus biology, genetics, and properties of cancer cells. One other method for
experimentation is using human test subjects, but this mean of gaining data is viewed as
unethical for the same reason animal testing is frowned upon, because it is morally wrong, and
humans involved in such experiments are exposed to a mass amount of danger. Morality seems
to be an obstacle in the pursuit of knowledge, but is also helping mankind to progress it.
According to speakingofresearch.com an article called animal model states that humans
and rats have over 90% similarity in genetics, furthermore we share the same organs like hearts,
kidneys, lungs and more. Not only that, humans and animals contain both of the same organ
systems, and both can capture the same illness, which can be treated by the same medicine used
to treat human beings. Although the similarities of humans and animals are great and the
differences are miniscule, activists stand against animal testing, for it goes against ethics, and
constantly push to ban animal testing, a good examples how are morales can delay scientific
progression. However, activists causes are justified, statements from Stroke W.S. in his article

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Animals and the 3Rs in toxicology research and testing that 85,325 animals have been reported
from the USDA to have felt unrelieved pain and distress as of 2013. Not only that, no matter
the equivalence, animals, such as rats, do not have the same metabolism rate which humans
have, which is an important factor when it comes to identifying how the human body would react
to certain medication, testing the side effects, how long the medication would lasts, and how
much could be poisonous.
Besides animals, there are other ways of exploring our medications and sickness, through the
use of petri dishes is one method, believed to be more precise than using animals, because petri
dishes are used to study the very foundation of viruses and illness down to the source, the cells.
Petri dishes can hold cell cultures, which is the development of a certain cell structures through
controlled variables, meaning the scientists basically stage everything for the cell to develop, to
grow, which benefits many scientists searching for specific illness so they can further analyze
them. For example, lets say a scientist wants to obtain a certain virus, first the scientist would
form a cell culture in a petri dish that resembles a cells structure to a certain virus or plague, but
only down to molecular size, finally the scientist has made a perfect replica of that certain virus
in that petri dish so he can examine every detail about the virus which can help greatly in the
medical field, because scientists can really break down the structure of a disease and try to cure it
on that small plastic dish. Petri dishes were also meant to be a more humane form of
experimentation, so it does not goes against morale avoiding testing on animals and humans,
which is why it is a perfect example of how our morality helps in advancing our scientific field.
We as a society try to press against unethical experimentation, but no matter how hard we try
there always seem to be a greater power pulling all the strings, for example, the government
conducted illegal experiments on people without their consent. In fact, in 1948 U.S. doctors

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asked a low ranking soldier, Federico Rasmos, to take some injections, in return he was given
some money to mate with some local prostitutes. Sadly, now at the age of 87, Rasmos, pees
blood, has spread the disease to his family, and discovered that he was diagnosed with syphilis
and gonorrhea, like the other 5,000 soldiers, prisoners, prostitutes, and orphans who have been
tested on by the U.S. 1,308 adults were diagnosed with syphilis, gonorrhea, and chancroid. This
atrocity was later revealed to the public in 2010, Rasmos and other victims attempted to sue the
U.S. government, resulting in Barrack Obama giving an Im sorry speech. As more and more
information was given about the STD trials in Guatemala, it became evident that it was John
Culter who took part of the scandal with the support of U.S. health officials, and even though
John and his supporters already knew what they were doing was unethical, they believed they
were doing more good than harm, a perfect example of science with no morality.
On the contrary, there are organizations out there created for serving protection
involving human experimentation, this council of people called Research Ethics committee
(REC) whose primary objective is determining the justification of ethics for human experiments.
The REC provides a sense of security for human test subjects granting them privacy, confirming
their consent, and keeping them away from any lethal danger. They are available online, their
website, http://www.hra.nhs.uk/ , which gives information for the REC from the Health Research
Authority that states Committees consist of up to 18 members,...They safeguard the rights,
safety, dignity and well being of research participants, independently of research sponsors.. This
specific research committee looks over 6,000 research documents every year, give their thoughts
on a case within 1-2 months, and is one of the many 80 agencies all in the UK. Then again there
are are cases in researching and experimenting where scientists demand that their patients be ill
informed that they are involved in a experiment, because it changes the way how some test

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subjects would act, but this as well goes against ethics, having to lie to people for the benefits for
research, again we see a motif of gaining knowledge, but sacrificing ones morality
There are the recurring problems with ethics involving humans and animal testing, maybe
morals are the obstacles in scientific progress, or if you think just like Friedrich Nietzsche, one of
the most under appreciated enlighten thinker during the 1800s, morality is the biggest handicap
in mankinds greatest passions. The philosophical Nietzsche believed that the weak willed and
degenerates are the first to oppose such passions, these passions can be many things human
lust for; love, greed, or even knowledge, and he also stated that Morality...is the very instinct of
decadence, which makes an imperative of itself.(Twilight of The Idols, Morality as Anti-Nature
par 5). Nietzsche argues that morality keeps us from living life to the fullest, they are chains that
bind us down to rules of the mind,. However you can argue that morality is what makes us
human, it separates us from the savages and what makes us civilized, without those rules and
regulations holding us back, who is to say that our society wont get thrown to total chaos, and it
because of our will to not harm other human beings that helped in the invention of the petri dish
the most humane and possibly scientifically accurate method of collecting information. Will we
still hold on to our virtue and integrity as more years go by, but will they remain the same, or
maybe our ethics will evolve with the human species, take into account during the 1700s
humans thought slavery was perfectly acceptable, also during the 1500s those who opposed god
would be slain, and not so long ago,during the 1940s our own U.S. government allowed
experimentation on prisoners without their consent.
To conclude this, many scientists have used varied ways of research and experimentation to
discover divergent methods of treating illness, gaining more knowledge, and advancing
medicine. In order to make those discoveries many analysts have resort to testing on animals and

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human beings, conducting top secret illegal experiments to analyze the effect of deadly diseases,
testing medication on rats, to using petri dishes to define the cell structures of viruses and
genetics. To help maintain our ethics and morales in human experimentation the U.S.
government created the REC which helps in protecting human tests subjects. Yet, it is our virtue
that is helping us advance in society it defines the human race and in avoiding exposing animals
and humans to danger we have created advanced methods in gathering data. We as the human
race should not give up our morality, but evolve our ethics, our morals, and virtues for the better
improvement of science.

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What I needed to correct on

To start off, I need to correct my thesis it must be more accurate and focused, I understand that it
really has no position in this topic. The introduction of my essay is well, however it could be
longer and needs more of a clear stance, I must show my point to the audience more clearly. I
need more statistics and factual information in my essay, to better follow through to my main
points in my essay. My conclusion needs more work, instead of just restating the introduction I
should try to relate to my main argument more. I should have an extensive vocabulary, and not
use the same words constantly.
I need to find a way to connect all my main ideas and thesis together, I should also go into
more detail of what my main ideas are about. I should use better and smoother transitional
words.

Bibliography:
Hay, Robert J., J. G. Park, and A. Gazdar, eds. Atlas of Human Tumor Cell Lines. San Diego:
Academic Press, 1994.
Hunter-Cevera, J. C., and A. Belt, eds. Preservation and Maintenance of Cultures Used in
Biotechnology. San Diego: Academic Press, 1996. http://www.biologyreference.com/Bl-Ce/CellCulture.html#ixzz3tKvnzTrt
http://www.nature.com/news/human-experiments-first-do-harm-1.998
Matthew Walter 08 February 2012
The measure of man http://www.sanger.ac.uk/Info/Press/2002/021205.shtml
Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues Ethically impossible: STD Research
in Guatemala from 1946 to 1948 (2011).
Stokes, W. S.1 william.s.stokes@aphis.usda.gov

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Human & Experimental Toxicology. Dec2015, Vol. 34 Issue 12, p1297-1303. 7p.