Human Subject Research Protection Ethics in the Research and Development (R&D) of Non-lethal Weapons

• Published in: Journal of military ethics Vol. 19; no. 3; pp. 241 - 258
• Main Author: Mezzacappa, Elizabeth Sibolboro
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oslo Routledge 02.07.2020; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: Avoidance; Belmont Principles; Ethics; Experimentation; Human subjects; human subjects research protections; institutional review boards; Non-lethal weapons; Nonlethal weapons; R&D; Research & development; research and development; risk mitigations
• ISSN: 1502-7570; 1502-7589
• DOI: 10.1080/15027570.2020.1852651

Non-lethal weapons (NLW) have become an increasingly important class of weapons. Creating these armaments requires examination of ethical issues in their research and development processes. Chief among these ethical concerns is the need for research, testing, and evaluation of these weapons against their intended targets: people. Research and development of NLW can be compromised by the avoidance of human target experimentation. At the root of this avoidance is a lack of knowledge of the ethical and regulatory guidelines that govern human subject research within the NLW community. As with all research, NLW research activities must comply with regulations that rest on the ethical concepts of Beneficence, Justice, and Respect for Persons. However, moderate modification must be made in the typical framework surrounding ethical oversight of NLW experimentation. The process discussed entails a sequence of questions "Is the activity research?", "Is the risk worth the benefit?", "How is the potential subject informed of the risks of participating?" and "How are the risks of harm to the subject mitigated throughout the experiment?" The ethical conduct of NLW research is vital to protecting the rights of subjects and increasing the pace of developments of NLW armaments.