• Question: If you had the opportunity would you do testing on humans or not?

    Asked by u11croughana to Keith, Derek, Elaine, Heather, Bimpe on 21 Jun 2013.
    • Photo: Keith Siew

      Keith Siew answered on 21 Jun 2013:

      That totally depends on the context!

      If you mean as an alternative to using animals… then from a scientific stand point if I’m interested in the physiology of humans and applying my results to humans… then they are the appropriate subjects… but ethically and practically its not possible to do all the tests we want in human subjects… so we use animals as models instead.

      I’d like to bring my work into human testing if it leads to new treatments… but only if its with consent, morally and ethically sound… and scientifically justified!

    • Photo: Heather Eyre

      Heather Eyre answered on 23 Jun 2013:

      It’s really hard to say!

      If I’d be able to add something useful to science by doing so (something I that I don’t think would be possible with my work just yet) then yes.

      But, I’d need to be sure that the person had agreed freely to it and that they understood any risks properly too. I really wouldn’t want anything like the drug trial that went wrong in London a few years ago where the men involved ended up really really poorly!

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