Analyze the ethics of Edward Jenner and his smallpox experiments.
Write a four-paragraph (500 word) report about Jenner's ethics.
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Answer:
“Mr Chairman, my work is designed to explore how we might prevent people contracting smallpox, and I believe cowpox, a disease in our countryside, may hold the answer. What I have suggested in my application may seem dangerous but I would propose it is no more than an improvement of current preventive measures based on our modern experimental methods. Let me place my work in context. Smallpox is a serious threat to our community and our current methods for prevention carry significant risk of death and disfigurement. This technique is called “variolation” and uses fluid from smallpox vesicles. I believe that fluid from cowpox vesicles could protect more safely and that there are persuasive theoretical reasons to believe inoculation for the cowpox will be of greater benefit than current variolation. My modification to this technique is based on a long history of country folklore, supported by my own observations.
Much effort has been spent in trying to prevent smallpox, starting in this country when Lady Mary Montague, wife of our ambassador in Constantinople, brought the technique of inoculation for the smallpox (variolation) to England. Variolation is achieved by placing a small amount of the fluid from a smallpox blister into a small cut on the recipient's skin. It suffered setbacks, the deaths of the Earl of Sunderland's 2 yr old son the Hon William Spencer and a 19 yr old son of the footman of Lord Bathurst, but, subsequently, Dr James Jurin, secretary of the Royal Society, established annual reports.2 He reported a death rate for smallpox of 1 in 5 or 6 and a corresponding lower fatality rate for variolation of 1 in 48 or 60. Dr Nettleton added further evidence in 1722. He reported 3405 cases of smallpox, of which 636 died. At the same time he reported 61 variolations with no fatalities.3 In 1752, Mr Brown, apothecary in Salisbury, reported his experience of variolation. He inoculated 422 persons of whom 4 died.4 Dr Maty FRS reported his experience from Geneva, vaccinating foundlings. All recovered.5 In 1754, Monsieur Bonnet (FRS) of Geneva wrote to John Clephane reporting his experience in Geneva.6 This author reported good results in 70 people but wrote “But I presume that the French will be a long time in adopting the practice of inoculation. The clergy there throw a terrible obstacle in its way.”
Thus, while variolation can provide protection against the smallpox, it carries a significant risk. In 1767 Josiah Wedgwood decided to variolate his two children Sukey and John. Both had convulsions as the rash developed and he wrote:
“they have had a pretty smart pox as our doctor terms it, but both have been so very ill that I confess I repented what we had done, and I much question whether we should have the courage to repeat the experiment”.7
There is an illness to which the horse is subject that is called the “grease” which seems to generate disease in the human after it has gone through modification in the cow. This human disease is called the cowpox. Any person so affected seems to be secure from smallpox.8,9,10 I also have cases that support this commonly held belief. In fourteen cases under my supervision, variolation failed to take, and all had previously contracted cowpox.
I now wish to collect fluid from a human cowpox vesicle and inject it into the skin of a suitable child subject. I have found two references to a similar process in my researches.”11,12
Explanation: