Topic: The Ethics of Experimental Treatments
Country: Colombia
Delegate Name: Howard Henderson
School: Fishers High School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All Colombia position papers GLIMUN 2014 committees
It has long been one of the government of Colombia’s main points of focus that every individual is assured basic human rights. For this reason, we previously detailed a National Plan of Action with the intent of promoting, protecting, and guaranteeing human rights, a main point of which was “to strengthen a culture of respect for human rights”. It is the opinion of Colombia that experimental treatments and medicines are extremely apt to infringe upon the rights of individuals; however it is also important to consider the value of such experimentation. There is a level of risk present in any investment, but the return can outweigh the danger in some cases.
As recently as 2012, Colombia has supported the experimental drug Crenezumab, used to deter the development of Alzheimer’s in genetically predestined individuals. The trial was to be tested on 300 Colombians who were genetically likely to develop the disease. It is trials such as these that pave the way towards cures in the future for diseases such as Alzheimer’s, cancer, or diabetes. Indeed, it could be considered inhumane to abstain from such trials. Consequently, Colombia sees the furtherance of clinical trials for experimental treatments as paramount to the global community, with the qualification of careful regulation. Any proposed experimental trials should be reviewed by members of the global medical community to determine if the treatment is representative of the greater interest of humanity, and any participating patients should be fully informed of the procedure, purpose, reasoning, and possible health consequences of any trial before participation, then give recorded consent. Although there are institutions set in place for governing these things (for example the Nuremberg Code, which states that informed consent is “absolutely essential” from any human subject), they are either not universally accepted, or incomplete in their ruling (the WMA’s Declaration of Helsinki merely serves as a recommendation of guidelines on human experimentation).
Colombia would like to emphasize once more its intent in protecting the rights of patients in experimental treatments. Colombia recognizes the risk involved in such trials, but also views such trials as necessary to the greater good of humanity. Assuming the practice to be a necessity, it sees the issue not in the validity of the practice, but rather in what regulations should be installed to maintain the humane and beneficial purpose of experimentation in clinical trials. Colombia would also like to remind the council that the declination of such trials can delay the creation of a cure for diseases like Alzheimer’s and cancer, which cause deaths every day. Experimental treatments are absolutely necessary in order to prevent loss of life, and to continue to make progress in the medical field.
Works Cited
CBS News Staff. (May 16, 2012). Promising new Alzheimer’s experiments may lead to cure.. CBS News. http://www.cbsnews.com/news/promising-new-alzheimers-experiments-may-lead-to-cure/
Permanent Mission of Colombia to the United Nations. (2014). Colombian Foreign Policy on Human Rights. http://www.colombiaun.org/English/Model%20UN/human_rights.html
