Uranium Experiments
On two notable occasions experimentation with the use of uranium occurred. The first took place at the University of Rochester where uranium was injected into six different patients based on their body weight and size. This experiment took place to test how much uranium a human kidney could handle before breaking down. It is unknown if this experiment was done consensually or not but either way, if this experiment was done to test the limits of how much uranium a human kidney can tolerate then that means that in the end, all test subjects would at least have damaged kidneys if not other damaged organs that may end up leading to death. Since this is the case, this experiment was clearly unethical since, with or without consent, it is causing irreparable damage to human bodies which just isn't right.
The other occasion where this experimentation occurred was when Dr. William Sweets injected 11 terminally ill patients at the Massachusetts General Hospital with uranium to try to test if it was a viable cure for brain tumours. It was said that this experiment was done with full consent from the legal guardians of the patients so if that is the case, this may be one of the few human experimentation projects that could be considered ethical. All of the test subjects were terminally ill which means that this treatment, even though it did end up killing the patients, did not really affect them long term since they would have died soon after anyways. Also, if the legal guardians actually did give consent then there is next to no reason, other than the testing possible being illegal, for this to be unethical.
The other occasion where this experimentation occurred was when Dr. William Sweets injected 11 terminally ill patients at the Massachusetts General Hospital with uranium to try to test if it was a viable cure for brain tumours. It was said that this experiment was done with full consent from the legal guardians of the patients so if that is the case, this may be one of the few human experimentation projects that could be considered ethical. All of the test subjects were terminally ill which means that this treatment, even though it did end up killing the patients, did not really affect them long term since they would have died soon after anyways. Also, if the legal guardians actually did give consent then there is next to no reason, other than the testing possible being illegal, for this to be unethical.
Plutonium Experiments
A notable example of a plutonium based experiment is for the Manhattan Project. For this eighteen people were injected with plutonium to test the effects of it in large and small quantities on the human body. In this case the testing was done fully consensually and by scientists working for the United States government. Now, depending on who the person is, they will have a different opinion on whether this experimentation was ethical or not. If they were a large supporter of nuclear warfare then they probably would say that this experimentation was ethical but if the person is against the use of nuclear weapons then they would say that it was unethical. Also, people who just generally don't support human experimentation will say that all of these were unethical.
Another example of plutonium experimentation was when 6 employees at a Metallurgical lab in Chicago were unknowingly given water that was contaminated with plutonium. This experiment was done to test how plutonium could be absorbed into the digestive tract. This experiment was most definitely unethical since it was done with the test subjects given absolutely no notice of it and most likely caused them negative health affects. There is basically no way that this experiment could be deemed ethical.
Another example of plutonium experimentation was when 6 employees at a Metallurgical lab in Chicago were unknowingly given water that was contaminated with plutonium. This experiment was done to test how plutonium could be absorbed into the digestive tract. This experiment was most definitely unethical since it was done with the test subjects given absolutely no notice of it and most likely caused them negative health affects. There is basically no way that this experiment could be deemed ethical.