How Does Chester Southam Violate The Nuremberg Code?

After analyzing, several sources, it is evident that even though both violated the Nuremberg code, Chester Southam has done more to advance science than Bertil Bjorklund. To begin, after evaluating the New York Times article A Virus's Debut in a Doctor's Syringe by Kent Sepkowitz, it is evident that Southam didn’t progress science in his initial way with a viral or immune therapy for cancer, but with drawing the realization on patient consents in American. In the article, it states, “his greatest contribution to medicine was not his groundbreaking work in viral or immune therapies of cancer. Rather, he occupies the unenviable position of having focused public attention on the ethical problems related to clinical research... highest priority

Even though the Nuremberg Code- a set of research ethics principles for human experimentation- didn’t technically apply to the United States, many doctors, scientists, and other physicians felt the need to morally abide by this rule. On the other hand, some doctors like Southam and Bjorklund didn’t feel the moral need to follow this code, which resulted in Bertil Bjorklund’s lab being shut down and Southam’s license being suspended for a year. For example, in the novel “The Immortal life of Henrietta Lacks” by Rebecca Skloot, it states, “Bertil Björklund. He’d been giving himself and patient’s intravenous injections of vaccines made from HeLa cells… Bjorklund’s HeLa injections got him expelled from his laboratory...The suspensions of Southam’s and Mandel’s licenses were stayed, leaving them both on one-year probation…soon after the end of his probationary period, Southam was elected president of the American Association for Cancer

On the other hand, some agree that Bertil Bjorklund has improved science more than Southam because Bjorklund discovered that antibodies in the horse serum destroyed cancer cells. In the newspaper article called “Results of Cancer Vaccine Trial Are expected later this year” by James O. Spaulding, it states, “Dr. Bjorklund discovered that the antibodies in the horse serum destroyed cancer cells in the test tube… Destruction occurred when the antibodies were with a substance in the serum which he called Cytolytic (cell destroying) factor... his research indicated that normal human blood contained CF... The antibodies against cancer cells activate the CF, he said.” (Spaulding) With this being said, even though Bjorklund made this discovery, due to his lab being shut down and him never continuing his research, this discovery was fruitless in magnifying science; unlike him, Southam didn’t let his mistake hinder him for continuing and prospering in his career. To reiterate, after analyzing various sources, it is evident that even though both violated the Nuremberg code, Chester Southam has