Published in III UNESC Seminar of Medical Humanities / I UFES Seminar of Medical Humanities

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The cruel and violent history of humanity, full of injustices and tyrannies revealing indifference and disrespect for human dignity, has nevertheless shown real progress in understanding and recognising each person's dignity and in establishing such dignity as the foundation for the rights and ethical imperatives with which human society has been built. Nowadays, however, human progress in the fields of medicine, biotechnology and scientific research entails unacceptable abuse and heralds serious threats to human dignity. Objectively, loss of dignity can occur in situations of war, poverty, or social misery, but people in these situations can still preserve great dignity in their behaviour, not feeling unworthy in the eyes of others. There are situations of great indignity. The issue in The Constant Gardener involves a clear violation of dignity. The way the pharmaceutical industry, lacking any scientific integrity, conducts a clinical trial in a country who’s political and social situation is completely disrupted and where the population is highly vulnerable due to several factors such as their economic and social condition, food shortages, and high illiteracy is without a doubt a clear violation of human dignity. Conflicts of interest in scientific research, particularly in clinical trials and how they are conducted, represent a point of convergence of two different areas, science and ethics, encouraging reflection and the search for solutions that will promote not only scientific, but also moral progress.