Topic: The Ethics of Experimental Treatments
Country: South Africa
Delegate Name: Zachary Willoughby
School: Kalamazoo Central High School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All South Africa position papers GLIMUN 2014 committees
We strongly believe that experimental treatments are absolutely necessary for the research and development of actual drugs and medications for severe chronic illnesses. South Africa has had a very long and troubled history with many diseases. The most problematic disease now is HIV/ AIDS.
In 2004, life expectancy in South Africa was only around fifty-two years of age. This low age is caused by the massive amounts of people who have been raped or born with HIV. However, the life expectancy has risen up to about sixty-one years in the last ten years, and this is because of experimental HIV treatments that have been introduced in the last ten years. Not only did we adopt these experimental treatments, but we became invested in finding our own treatments. We discovered that the bark of the African Bush Willow produced a chemical called Combretastatin A4 Disodium Phosphate. This chemical restricts blood flow to tumors while leaving regular tissues void of harm. We sent this chemical to the United States, and out of it came the Combretastatin A4 ProDrug. This drug is more commonly know as Zybrestat in the United States. Due to the dual action of Combretastatin A4, it completely causes blood flow to cease to go to the tumor area, making the tumor basically stop growing and functioning.
Not only do we use experimental drugs, but we also promote that other countries use them as well. South Africa, under Nelson Mandela, made it extremely easier for third world countries to obtain these experimental drugs.
