Ethical issues manufacturing

Ethical Issues I shall explore ethical issues raised at three points in this episode (1) Brown s response to Smith at the meeting with Velo, when Smith asked Brown to endorse his composite-frame manufacturing plan (2) Brown s action when told by Jones, Velo s vice president of R D, not to do the optimization studies Brown thought advisable to do and (3) what Brown did when he reached the conclusions he did about the carbon-fiber bike frame production option. 

It is unfortunate, and indeed reprehensible, that several manufacturers of riot control agents, devices and related equipment do not issue readily available informative literature, and indeed when it is supplied it is often incomplete and technically questionable. Apparently, MSDSs are not considered as a necessary regulatory requirement for civil control munitions. Statements that formulation constituents of materials to be deliberately used against a human heterogeneous population are trade secrets is not acceptable from medical and ethical points of view, and needs to be prohibited. 

The Durham Humphrey Amendment (1951) defined the kinds of drugs that required medical supervision for safe use and restricted them to sale by prescription. Two years later, in 1953, the US Public Health Service issued a policy document entitled Group Consideration of Clinical Research Procedures Deviating from Accepted Medical Practice or Involving Unusual Hazard. This policy stated that the potential risks of clinical studies must be carefully assessed and that informed consent was essential. Ethical review of research proposals was also suggested. In this same year, the Factory Inspection Amendment was passed, requiring the FDA to give written inspection reports to manufacturers. 

The chapters in Part III therefore tease out experiences of some of the key aspects of health-industry interactions in more detail and identify some important policy issues to be tackled. All these issues are framed by political economy considerations of the ethics, interests and institutions involved. They include the highly contentious matters of price controls and standard setting for pharmaceutical products, plus examination of sources and problems of financing, the scope for innovative procurement processes that can reflect health system values while providing incentives for industrial investment, and the contested but important role of industrial manufacturers associations and political lobbying. 

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