By: Marsha Michaelis

When a policy intended to help vulnerable people actually harms them, the ethical response is immediate: Stop, reassess and tell the truth.

That was why, in January 1996, a team of doctors at the Seattle-based Fred Hutch Cancer Centerdramatically halted the active phase of a study assessing the benefits of beta-carotene and vitamin A supplements for people at high risk of developing lung cancer.

Leading up to the study, Hutch News reported, “public enthusiasm for the purported health benefits of beta-carotene was so high, ’people thought it would be unethical to assign participants to the placebo group.’”

It turns out the placebo takers were the lucky ones. Among the 18,314 participants, those receiving supplements “had a 28 percent greater incidence of lung cancer and 17 percent more deaths.”

[[…Read more at: The Washington Times…]]