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2025, Number 1

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Revista Colombiana de Bioética 2025; 20 (1)

Learning from the past: Old and new ethical responsibilities in health research

Vidal SM, Gonorazky SE, Cox S, Solbakk JH

Language: English
References: 26
Page: 1-7
PDF size: 133.87 Kb.


ABSTRACT

Purpose/Background: This article critically examines the ethical issues in a longitudinal experimental study on the impact of nutrition and stimulation on early childhood development in Jamaica, originally conducted in 1991 and revisited in several cases, the last in 2022. It argues that the research involved ethically questionable practices from the outset including children in extreme poverty without guaranteeing minimal interventions and applying a double ethical standard.
Methodology/Approach: Using international bioethical standards, the authors assess the study’s design and ethical shortcomings from the vantage point of the Declaration of Helsinki and CIOMS guidelines.
Results/Findings: They identified several ethically questionable practices including, the non-provision of food or stimulation, or both, children in the control groups, lack of documented ethical review, double ethical standards and new risks in the 2022 follow-up, such as, participant re-identification, the potential of stigmatization and undue inducement caused by financial compensation.
Discussion/Conclusions/Contributions: The authors urge for ethical accountability when current research builds on ethically compromised studies. They emphasize that researchers, ethics committees, and journal editors must critically assess the ethical background and challenges of cited studies, assuming shared responsibilities upholding universal ethical principles in research involving vulnerable populations.


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