Human experimentation as biopolitical strategy
Authors
-
Fernando Hellmann
UNESCO Chair in Bioethics and Public Health. Federal University of Santa Catarina, Florianópolis, Brazil
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4692-0545
Download
Abstract
This article analyzes human experimentation through Michel Foucault’s concept of biopolitics, showing how biomedical research functions as a technique of population governance. It highlights the ambivalent role of ethical normes, which can serve both as resistance and as a regulatory apparatus that legitimizes inequality. Drawing on Foucault’s notions of biopower, state racism, and the security apparatus, it argues that experimentation often targets vulnerable populations and that ethical norms, far from neutral, may operate as instruments of control aligned with state and market interests.
Keywords:
Ethics , Biopolitics , Research ethics , Human experimentation , Clinical research ethicsReferences
Agamben, G. (2004). Estado de exceção: Homo sacer, II, I (I. D. Poleti, Trad.). Boitempo. (Obra original publicada em 2003)
Agamben, G. (2005). State of exception (K. Attell, Trans.). University of Chicago Press. (Obra original publicada em 2003)
Altman, L. K. (1998). Who goes first? The story of self-experimentation in medicine. University of California Press.
Angell, M. (1997). The ethics of clinical research in the Third World. New England Journal of Medicine, 337(12), 847–849. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJM199709183371209
Annas, G. J., & Grodin, M. A. (1995). The Nazi doctors and the Nuremberg Code: Human rights in human experimentation. Oxford University Press.
Arán, M., & Peixoto Júnior, C. A. (2007). Vulnerabilidade e vida nua: Bioética e biopolítica na atualidade. Revista de Saúde Pública, 41(5), 849–857. https://doi.org/10.1590/S0034-89102006005000038
Arendt, H. (2013). Eichmann em Jerusalém: Um relato sobre a banalidade do mal. Companhia das Letras.
Aristóteles. (1998). A política (N. S. Chaves, Trad.). Ediouro. (Universidade de bolso).
Ashcroft, R. E. (2003). Constructing empirical bioethics: Foucauldian reflections on the empirical turn in bioethics research. Health Care Analysis, 11(1), 3–13. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1025329811812
Bärnighausen, T. W. (2007). Communicating ‘tainted science’: The Japanese biological warfare experiments on human subjects in China. In U. Schmidt & A. Frewer (Eds.), History and theory of human experimentation: The Declaration of Helsinki and modern medical ethics (pp. 117–142). Franz Steiner Verlag.
Beecher, H. K. (1966). Ethics and clinical research. New England Journal of Medicine, 274(24), 1354–1360. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJM196606162742405
Black, E. (2012). War against the weak: Eugenics and America’s campaign to create a master race. Dialog Press.
Candiotto, C., & Salomé D’Espíndula, T. (2012). Biopoder e racismo político: Uma análise a partir de Michel Foucault. Revista Internacional Interdisciplinar INTERthesis, 9(2), 20–39. https://doi.org/10.5007/1807-1384.2012v9n2p20
Caponi, S. (2004). A biopolítica da população e a experimentação com seres humanos. Ciência & Saúde Coletiva, 9(2), 445–455. https://doi.org/10.1590/S1413-81232004000200020
Caponi, S. (2012). Classificar e medicar: A gestão biopolítica dos sofrimentos psíquicos. Revista Internacional Interdisciplinar INTERthesis, 9(2), 101–118. https://doi.org/10.5007/1807-1384.2012v9n2p101
Chen, Y., & Luo, X. (2024). Reflection on Gene Editing from the Perspective of Biopolitics. NanoEthics. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11569-023-00451-4
Council for International Organizations of Medical Sciences. (2002). International ethical guidelines for biomedical research involving human subjects. CIOMS.
Dillon, M., & Lobo-Guerrero, L. (2008). Biopolitics of security in the 21st century: An introduction. Review of International Studies, 34(2), 265–292. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0260210508008024
Donda, M. C. S. (2014). Biopolítica y gestión de los cuerpos. In D. Porto, B. Schlemper Junior, G. Z. Martins, T. Cunha, & F. Hellmann (Eds.), Bioética: Saúde, pesquisa, educação (2nd ed., pp. 189–202). CFM/SBB.
Doron, C.-O. (2013). Savoirs et gouvernement du risque. Université Paris Diderot. https://www.academia.edu/6472785/Savoirs_et_gouvernement_du_risque
Draft Code of Ethics on Human Experimentation. (1962). BMJ, 2(5312), 1119. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.2.5312.1119
Elliott, C. (2016). Whatever happened to human experimentation? Hastings Center Report, 46(1), 8–11. https://doi.org/10.1002/hast.531
Esposito, R. (2008). Bíos: Biopolitics and philosophy (T. Campbell, Trans.). University of Minnesota Press. (Obra original publicada em 2004)
Esposito, R. (2013). Terms of the political: Community, immunity, biopolitics. Fordham University Press. https://doi.org/10.1515/9780823292745
European Commission, & European Group on Ethics in Science and New Technologies. (2003). Opinion Nr 17 on ethical aspects of clinical research in developing countries.
FDA. (2001). Guidance for industry acceptance of foreign clinical studies. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Finkler, M., Verdi, M. I. M., Caetano, J. C., & Ramos, F. R. S. (2010). Formação profissional ética: Um compromisso a partir das diretrizes curriculares? Trabalho, Educação e Saúde, 8(3), 449–462. https://doi.org/10.1590/S1981-77462010000300007
Foucault, M. (1978). The history of sexuality: An introduction (Vol. 1). Pantheon Books.
Foucault, M. (1982). The archaeology of knowledge: And the discourse on language. Vintage Books.
Foucault, M. (1995). Discipline and punish: The birth of the prison (2nd ed.). Vintage Books.
Foucault, M. (2004a). O nascimento da medicina social. In M. Foucault & R. Machado (Eds.), Microfísica do poder (pp. 79–98). Graal.
Foucault, M. (2004b). Soberania e disciplina. In M. Foucault & R. Machado (Eds.), Microfísica do poder (pp. 179–192). Graal.
Foucault, M. (2005). Em defesa da sociedade: Curso no Collège de France (1975-1976). Martins Fontes.
Foucault, M. (2008a). Nascimento da biopolítica: Curso no Collège de France (1978-1979). Martins Fontes.
Foucault, M. (2008b). Segurança, território, população. Martins Fontes.
Freire, P. (1981). Pedagogia do oprimido (9th ed.). Paz e Terra.
Gäckle, N. (2023). Governing pandemic fatigue: an International Relations case of experiential biopolitics. European Journal of International Relations. https://doi.org/10.1177/13540661231183357
Giraldo, L. F. G., & Zuluaga, C. G. (2013). El cuidado de sí y de los otros en Foucault, principio orientador para la construcción de una bioética del cuidado. Discusiones Filosóficas, 14(22), 187–201.
Goliszek, A. (2003). In the name of science: A history of secret programs, medical research, and human experimentation. St. Martin’s Press.
Guta, A., Gagnon, M., & Jacob, J. D. (2012). Using Foucault to recast the telecare debate. The American Journal of Bioethics, 12(9), 57–59. https://doi.org/10.1080/15265161.2012.699140
Hellmann, F. (2014). A Declaração de Helsinque como estratégia biopolítica: Uma genealogia do duplo standard para ensaios clínicos em países periféricos [Doctoral dissertation, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina].
Hellmann, F., & Homedes, N. (2022). An unethical trial and the politicization of the COVID‐19 pandemic in Brazil: The case of Prevent Senior. Developing World Bioethics, 22(3), 162–168. https://doi.org/10.1111/dewb.12363
Hellmann, F., Verdi, M., Schlemper Junior, B. R., & Caponi, S. (2014). 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Helsinki: The double standard was introduced. Archives of Medical Research, 45(7), 600–602. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.arcmed.2014.10.005
Hellmann, F., Williams-Jones, B., & Garrafa, V. (2020). COVID-19 and moral imperialism in multinational clinical research. Archives of Medical Research, 51(6), 572–573. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.arcmed.2020.04.017
Homedes, N., & Ugaldi, A. (2012). Un estudio crítico de los princípios éticos internacionales. In N. Homedes & A. Ugalde (Eds.), Ética y ensaios clínicos en América Latina (pp. 21–79). Lugar Editorial.
Hughes, J. (2009). Techno progressive biopolitics and human enhancement. In J. Moreno & S. Berger (Eds.), Progress in bioethics (pp. 163–188). MIT Press.
Krasse, B. (2001). The Vipeholm dental caries study: Recollections and reflections 50 years later. Journal of Dental Research, 80(9), 1785–1788. https://doi.org/10.1177/00220345010800090201
Lederer, S. E. (1995). Subjected to science: Human experimentation in America before the Second World War. Johns Hopkins University Press.
Lederer, S. E. (2007). Research without borders: The origins of the Declaration of Helsinki. In U. Schmidt & A. Frewer (Eds.), History and theory of human experimentation: The Declaration of Helsinki and modern medical ethics (pp. 145–164). Franz Steiner Verlag.
Lewontin, R. C., Rose, S., & Kamin, L. J. (2003). Not in our genes: Biology, ideology, and human nature. Pantheon.
Löwy, I. (2013). The best possible intentions testing prophylactic approaches on humans in developing countries. American Journal of Public Health, 103(2), 226–237. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2012.300901
Lysaught, M. T. (2009). Docile bodies: Transnational research ethics as biopolitics. Journal of Medicine and Philosophy, 34(4), 384–408. https://doi.org/10.1093/jmp/jhp026
Macklin, R. (2004). Double standards in medical research in developing countries. Cambridge University Press.
Mitjavila, M. R., & Mathes, P. G. (2012). Doença mental e periculosidade criminal na psiquiatria contemporânea: Estratégias discursivas e modelos etiológicos. Physis: Revista de Saúde Coletiva, 22(4), 1377–1395. https://doi.org/10.1590/S0103-73312012000400007
Moreno, J. D. (2006). Mind wars: Brain research and national defense. Dana Press.
Moreno, J. D. (2011). The body politic: The battle over science. Bellevue Literary Press.
National Bioethics Advisory Commission. (2001). Ethical and policy issues in international research: Clinical trials in developing countries. NBAC.
Nuffield Council on Bioethics. (2002). The ethics of research related to healthcare in developing countries.
Petryna, A. (2005). Ethical variability: Drug development and globalizing clinical trials. American Ethnologist, 32(2), 183–197. https://doi.org/10.1525/ae.2005.32.2.183
Petryna, A. (2009). When experiments travel: Clinical trials and the global search for human subjects. Princeton University Press.
Pignarre, P. (1999). O que é o medicamento? Um objeto estranho entre ciência, mercado e sociedade. Ed. 34.
Reich, W. T. (2001). The care-based ethic of Nazi medicine and the moral importance of what we care about. American Journal of Bioethics, 1(1), 64–74. https://doi.org/10.1162/152651601750079195
Reverby, S. M. (Ed.). (2000). Tuskegee’s truths: Rethinking the Tuskegee Syphilis Study. University of North Carolina Press.
Rose, N. (2007). The politics of life itself: Biomedicine, power, and subjectivity in the twenty-first century. Princeton University Press.
Tremain, S. (2008). The biopolitics of bioethics and disability. Journal of Bioethical Inquiry, 5(2–3), 101–106. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11673-008-9105-6
UNAIDS. (2000). Ethical considerations in HIV preventive vaccine research: UNAIDS guidance document.
World Medical Association. (1964). Declaration of Helsinki.
World Medical Association. (2013). Declaration of Helsinki. Amended by the 64th WMA General Assembly.
Yang, Y., Raine, A., Narr, K. L., Colletti, P., & Toga, A. W. (2009). Localization of deformations within the amygdala in individuals with psychopathy. Archives of General Psychiatry, 66(9), 986. https://doi.org/10.1001/archgenpsychiatry.2009.110
Yudin, B. (2004). Human experimentation in Russia/the Soviet Union in the first half of the 20th century. In V. Roelcke & G. Maio (Eds.), Twentieth century ethics of human subjects research: Historical perspectives on values, practices, and regulations (pp. 99–110). Franz Steiner Verlag.
Zimmer, D. (2025). The Power to Kill Life Itself: Michel Foucault, Biopolitics, and the Political Challenge of Human Extinction. Perspectives on Politics. https://doi.org/10.1017/s1537592725000027
