The lead paint which was conducted in the early 1990’s had the task of establishing how effective the different levels of repair in the Baltimore neighborhood had in reducing the amount of lead in the blood of the children that lived in the inner sides of the city.
Lead has been establishment as one of the main reasons that will generally tend to reduce the performance of children in schools as well as reducing their levels of IQ. The study however turned out to be controversial with lawsuits being set against the Kennedy Krieger institute which is an affiliate of John’s Hopkins.The Tuskegee Syphilis Study on the other hand was conducted in Tuskegee between 1932 and 1972. It was conducted by the U. S.
public Health Service. This study also turned out to be controversial and parallels can be drawn between this case and the lead study case. The lead study case was designed to test the levels of lead in a number of five housing groups which were divided in 25 houses per each group.Three of the five sets of homes in the study received maintenance with the aim of reducing lead levels. 5 houses received minimal repairs, 25 others had middle levels of repair while the rest of the 25 groups of houses had heavy repair work.
This study also incorporated two control groups with one that had no lead levels at all while the other had its lead levels eliminated. The research which was conducted for a period f two years saw the researchers collect samples to measure the level of contamination. The maintenance in the homes showed a reduction of about 70-90 % in lead levels according to the researchers (Packard, 1994).The Tuskegee Syphilis study was carried out by the U. S public Health Service in the Macon County in Alabama. It was supposed to chart out the succession of various stages of syphilis when they are left on the disease is left to manifest itself.
The study which targeted males of African-American descents attracted 399 men with syphilis and 201 men without the disease. The aim of the study which was to benefit the poor population attracted the participation of the Tuskegee Institute.The study at the time was viewed as ethical since nothing could be done and as long as they did not harm the patients then the study was okay. The reasoning behind their ideological thinking was that the study would reap more benefits.
However, the study would soon turn out to be controversial since the researchers went contrary to the main gist of the study (Packard, 1994). . One of the main aspects that stands out in the study of both cases is that they were meant for the betterment of the community that they were studying and that their results could be used far and beyond.However, both cases turned out to be controversial in one way or another.
One of the main reasons that seem to stand out is the lack of proper information by the researchers on their subjects. Two mothers who had filed the case in court had complained that they had not been warned of the risks of that the study posed. The Tuskegee case on the other hand did not provide adequate information to the volunteers needed for them to willingly consent to the study.In the paint lead case the Maryland Court of appeals likened it to the “infamous Tuskegee syphilis study”. The death of a young volunteer caused widespread uproar but this was in grim contrast to the devastating results of the Tuskegee case which claimed 28 men, infected 40 women and 19 children. Although the extremity of the two cases may be seen to be far apart the growing concern of medical research in which humans are involved should be done with utmost precision to ensure the safety of participants.
