Science is not objective. Scientists may value fact, but they are still people too, influenced by identity and implicit and explicit biases in their research. Racism has pervaded every aspect of society since the country’s founding, and scientific institutions are no exception. From historical racist research practices to a modern reluctance to support Black Lives Matter or actively diversify the field, scientists have participated in and promoted racism for centuries. Scientists cannot claim objectivity now as an excuse to not be antiracist.

Throughout American history, unethical, racist research has contributed to scientific “progress”, but that is not regularly acknowledged. Although the past cannot be undone, fields should at least recognize the horrific means by which some research was done. For example, gynecology was borne of unethical experiments done on enslaved women and children. The “Tuskegee Experiment” withheld treatment of syphilis from hundreds of Black men just to see how the disease progressed. Henrietta Lacks, a Black woman with cervical cancer in 1951, had some cells taken from her tumor without being informed of this. The cells from her tumor, now known as HeLa cells, have been used since the 1950s for biomedical research. Since cancer is characterized by an improperly regulated cell cycle, with either too much cell growth or too little cell death, cancer cells can grow and divide excessively. This particular line of cells has been able to grow and divide endlessly, due to the presence of an active version of telomerase during cell division. This enzyme prevents the typical shortening of telomeres in cell division that leads to cell aging and death, making the cells “immortal” and the cell line usable to this day. Though they have been used in various research advances, her name was only connected to them in the 1970s. Her family, still with limited access to healthcare themselves, received no financial benefits and had no say in how the cells were used. Henrietta Lacks’ case is a more recent example of unethical research practices affecting Black people.

The questions scientists choose to study, whom they choose to include, and how they apply their results all bias research. Scientists of marginalized identities are much more likely to explore topics relevant to minority groups. So then, the lack of diversity among scientists also contributes to biased research priorities. In 2016, only 9% and 13.5% of science bachelors degrees were given to African Americans and Latinos respectively, and only 5% and 3.8% of doctoral degrees in science and engineering went to women and men from underrepresented minorities. Almost 70% of scientists and engineers employed full time are white. When issues like COVID-19 and climate change disproportionately affect marginalized groups, the lack of diverse representation can prevent representative research or solutions. Scientific institutions need to work on hiring and retention of Black, Latinx, and Indigenous scientists, in part by creating less hostile work environments and increasing DEI efforts.

The lack of diversity in clinical trials also decreases the inclusivity of science and medicine. Even though about 40% of Americans are nonwhite or Hispanic, the clinical trials for new drugs tend to have much whiter samples, with some having 80 to 90% white participants. Since these drugs will be used to treat all people, diverse samples are needed to determine the efficacy and side effects that can vary across ethnicity and sex. The 1993 National Institutes of Health Revitalization Act that required greater inclusion of women and minorities in NIH research samples did improve the proportion of female subjects, but not so much for minority groups. Even for diseases that disproportionately affect marginalized groups, those groups are grievously underrepresented in the clinical trials. 

One such disease is COVID-19. Even though the rates of infection, severity, and death are greater for Black, Latinx, and Indigenous Americans, these groups are underrepresented in clinical trials. Trials for drugs to treat COVID-19 did not accurately reflect the most affected populations at the research sites. Some studies also did not report the race and ethnicity of participants as required by the FDA. Remdesivir has shown to somewhat decrease recovery time, but since disease severity and outcomes are worse for minority groups, the benefits of improvement may not necessarily extend to them. This is why proportional representation of affected populations is so important in clinical trials for drugs.

One cause for lack of diversity in clinical trials is that minority groups can be unwilling or unable to take part, for reasons including fear of discrimination, lack of time or resources, inaccessibility of recruitment centers, language barriers, and fear of exploitation based in historical precedent. However, these barriers should be on the researchers to address, not on the marginalized groups. A possible solution could be to have the FDA enforce that drugs should be tested on samples that demographically reflect the populations that will be using them.

In the end, research institutions and scientists need to examine their biases in order to determine who they are serving, and then who they mean to serve. Efforts to increase diversity cannot be passive, but instead should involve active recruitment and work to eliminate the barriers in place. In an academic institution, that might mean a more inclusive work environment and better outreach and mentorship programs. For clinical trials, this could be reducing the financial burden of participation and building better relationships with minority communities that may have been hurt in the past. Science is meant to help people, so we need to be better moving forward, as well as acknowledge the damage scientists have done in the past.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email