warnedthatanimaltestsmayfailtopickupchemicalsthat
causecancerinpeople.Exposuretoarsenicseemstoincrease
theriskthatapersonwilldevelopcancer,butitdoesnothave
this effect in laboratory tests on animals.^129 A malaria
vaccine developed in the United States in 1985 at the
prestigiousWalterReedArmyInstituteofResearchworked
in animals, but proved largely ineffective in humans; a
vaccine developed by Colombian scientists working with
humanvolunteershas proven moreeffective.^130 Nowadays
defendersofanimalresearchoftentalkabouttheimportance
of finding a cure for AIDS; but Robert Gallo, the first
American toisolate HIV (theAIDSvirus), hassaid thata
potentialvaccinedevelopedbytheFrenchresearcherDaniel
Zaguryhadshownitselftobemoreeffectiveinstimulating
HIVantibodyproductionin humanbeings thaninanimals;
and he added: “The results in chimps haven’t been too
exciting....Maybe weshould gointotesting in manmore
aggressively.”^131 Significantly, people with AIDS have
endorsedthiscall:“Letusbeyourguineapigs,”pleadedgay
activistLarryKramer.^132 Obviouslythispleamakessense.A
curewillbefoundfasterifexperimentationisdonedirectly
on human volunteers; and because of
thenatureofthedisease,andthestrongbondsbetweenmany
members of the gay community, there is no shortage of
volunteers. Care needs to be taken, of course, that those
volunteeringgenuinelyunderstandwhattheyaredoingand
are under no pressure or coercion to take part in an
experiment.But itwouldnotbe unreasonableto givesuch
consent.Whyshouldpeoplebedyingfromaninvariablyfatal
diseasewhileapotentialcureistestedonanimalswhodonot
normally develop AIDS anyway?
blacktrush
(BlackTrush)
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