ABSTRACT
The process of human experimentation takes place against a background of assumptions concerning individual choice—choices by consumers and workers to engage in activities or purchase goods they perceive to carry various types of risks and benefits. In a free society, a principal assumption is that the individual is sovereign and should be able to choose among a smorgasbord of risks and benefits. There are certain kinds of experimental activity that may have low probabilities of risk but that could harm many people if their risks come to fruition. The story of recombinant deoxyribonucleic acid technology is a case study of an experiment that involved concerns about widespread injury but turned out to be beneficent with the adoption of proper controls. Some clinical trials bridging the turn of the century turned up no benefit from casein- and gluten-free diets and secretin. The search for a cure for autism has generated much attention from parents of autistic children and in the media.
