In one of the last issues we spoke about the lack of professional ethics in all fields of society. We shall naturally address the subject of health. For some time now, there has been a growing tendency in the field of research to inform the mass media about expected results before these have been obtained and clinically tested on human beings.
For some time now, associations exist that finance advice in external relations to obtain exposure within public opinion. An example: Emblematic is the full page that appeared in the daily newspaper “Il giornale” under the heading “The time machine”, notifying the results of research in neuro-sciences. Only after carefully reading between the lines (just three lines!) of a column at the end, the following could be read: “these results will only be applicable to human being over the long period - six to ten years”.
We might add: “That’ll be the day!" Obviously, this way of behaviour raises a number of questions: is it right to raise hopes and often deceive patients?
Can we be certain that over such a long period of time the results of this research will be successful? Let’s be frank, these things often occur to try and get under the spotlight: is all this ethical? Is it right, after all, to bypass the opinion of the scientific community? What purpose do conferences serve except to ratify the results of research in a debate between peers?
These are important questions, in this age of confusion and smoke, that we shall ask scientists during a round table in which people who will be taking part have made ethics the reason of their profession. Redefining the terms of scientific communication through the mass media notwithstanding the economic and political pressures which every research institute well knows is a sign of respect towards the suffering of those who do not always have the ability to “read between the lines”, to understand where truth stops and where the dead-end of deceit starts. That’ll be the day......but we must wait until it comes along!
Translated by Interpres sas