Ethics, Science and Society

Industry-Academy Course Project

Erik J Ryman, Renee Kroon, Richard Hedman, Jacobo Antona,

More than ONE MILLION people die worldwide from traffic accidents every year (*)

About 50% caused by head injuries (**)

Accidents at work, sports, assaults, and war conflicts add several MILLIONS of cases of head

injuries and permanent physical impairment

(*) World Health Organization (WHO)(**) US Cooper 1993 and Kallieris 1997, UK Jennet 1996, Europe Deck 2008, Japan ITARDA 2007

Injury mechanisms have not been clarified yet

Brain Injury mechanisms are extremely complicated

Injury biological mechanisms can only be clarified with LIVING SUBJECTS

FOUR POSSIBILE METHODS

1. Experiments with Humans2. Experiments with Non-human Primates3. Experiments with Non-primate animals4. Doing nothing

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Stapp

Stapp at 667Km/h in one of his experiments

March 1954

http://www.stapp.org/stapp.shtml

Colonel John Paul Stapp, M.D., Ph.D.

Method 1: Experiments with Humans

Stapp at the age of 89Hero Stapp

METHOD NOT

ACCEPTED IN CURRENT

SOCIETY

Gennarelli 1982

Ono 1980

Ommaya 1984Kikuchi 1982

Method 2: Experiments with Non-human Primates

Pudenz 1946METHOD NOT

ACCEPTED IN CURRENT

SOCIETY

Davidsson et al. 2009

Miller et al. 2000 Anderson et al. 2000, 2003

Gutierrez et al. 2001

3. Experiments with Non-human Primates

METHOD ACCEPTED

4. Doing nothing

METHOD ACCEPTED

Dangers of industry funding

• Contracts signing rights of stopping publication• University siding with company in cases of

dispute• Increased risk of biasing• Steer funding away from ”non-useful” science• Taking time away from research for consultancy

tasks• Decreased trustworthiness

Advantages of industry funding

• More funding for University• Access to resources otherwise unavailable• Results comming to use

Solutions

• Avoid single company dominance• Negotiations through official channels

WHAT WOULD THE INDUSTRY GET IF WE CLARIFY INJURY MECHANISMS?

Automotive industry → Safer cars

Goods → Better helmets and safety devices for sports and work

Medicine → Treatment of head injuries

Military → Safer equipments

WHERE IS THE CONFLICT?

Industry need answers but don’t want to be directly related with the usage of animals

For this, they rely on Universities and public institutions

Indirect funding?

QUESTIONS:

Where is the limit?

How many animals worth one human life?