Controversy of Using Unethically Obtained Nazi Data for Current Research

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Controversy of Using Unethically Obtained Nazi Data for Current Research

During World War II, Nazi doctors committed atrocious crimes in the name of research against their Jewish prisoners. This research done in such a way that never can or should be done again, plays an important role in science. We must allow researchers to use Nazi data to add light to their research, however only if it is the only source for the data they need to improve their research or findings.

To understand the full breadth of the Nazis' research practices you must examine some of the Nazi research history leading up to the Nuremberg trials of 1946. These trials, which eventually led to laws regulating human subject research and convictions against sixteen of the twenty doctors charged with war crimes, crimes against, humanity and conspiracy.

When explaining the brutality of the research Baruch C. Cohen in "Jewish Law Articles" says the "acts of torture were characterized by several shocking features: (1) persons were forced to become subjects in very dangerous studies against their will. (2) Nearly all subjects endured incredible suffering, mutilation, and indescribable pain. (3) The experiments often were deliberately designed to terminate in a fatal outcome for their victims."

Hitler's doctors performed numerous experiments on the Jewish subjects with military intelligence goals in mind, they slept at night claiming the subjects were condemned to death anyway. Some of these experiments were:

1. Freezing experiments, prisoners were immersed into tanks of ice water for hours at a time, often shivering to death. The researcher's goal here was to determine how long Germany pilot could survive if they were shot down over the oce...

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... the pseudoscience is in order. The harder question is when should the accurate and valid data be used. In my opinion as stated previously, the data should only be used when there are no other alternatives. When this data is used there must be a section in the paper exposing the terrible crimes committed against the unwilling Jewish prisoners.

The way this pioneering data was discovered was disgusting and wrong. There are two main reasons why we cannot keep the data locked away. First, absence and time will allow people to forget about the crimes. Secondly, there is potential lifesaving info contained in the documents. Lets not make a bad situation worse by locking up the data and throwing away the key. Don't let the Jewish prisoners suffering go to waste, allow the data that they made possible save a life, thereby equating things in the life cycle.

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