Improving the ethics of pharma research is an important part of preventing tragedies like the Adam Lanza case - in my opinion . The news about this senseless killings the past week saddens me, as it should sadden most reasonable people.
Pundits from various sides of various issues like gun control and psychiatric medication compliance will try to make this story fit their own point of view, but first of all folks- it's just plain sad. LITTLE kids were the victims. sad.
We also may never know for sure what meds Adam was actually on at the time he did the violence. Also withdrawing too quickly from any psych med can produce results that are 'off the charts' in human behaviour. This is not the behaviour the person would exhibit on the med, or if he was titrated slowly off of it, and med free, or on a different med that worked better for him.
Where can you find the federal standards that govern the ethics of psychiatric medical research ? (especially wrt children, adolescents, the elderly, minorities and other vulnerable populations)
The Belmont Report
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belmont_Report
http://www.brynmawr.edu/ceo/students/ethics/belmontreport.html
Sorry to echo information from a previous post of mine, but the occasion calls for it
Surprisingly, none of the platitudes expressed in the Belmont Report are federal law, making it, in effect, a toothless federal policy.
It is hard for reform to get through congress, since many congress persons rely on donations from pharma- friendly PACs and lobbies
It is difficult for university researchers today to follow the hypothesis and data analysis steps of the scientific method in an unbiased manner, since there is a lot of pressure on them to produce results that the pharma company sponsors want.
Only public outrage IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION can reform psych research. It happened once before, after the Tuskeegee tragedy that spawned the Belmont Report in the 1970s
What are the consequences for a society where some university researchers think more about profits, accolades and their own giant egos than seeking scientific truth ?
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Comments moderated. I havn't gotten 'many' comments yet on this blog to this point. Further fol-de-rol on this as necessary !