what are the ethics behind research in narcolepsy ? why would it be a benefit to determine what causes narcole?

One Comment

1. Andy says:

   July 5, 2009 at 1:12 pm

   Narcolepsy is a rare sleep disorder that has debilitating effects on the lives of people suffering from it. People with narcolepsy have a tendency to fall into REM sleep at inconvenient moments; their muscles become paralyzed and they fall to the ground. It is uncontrollable. These people also cannot predict when a “sleep attack” is going to occur. Thus, their ability to find employment is very limited and their social life suffers too. Furthermore, the sudden muscle paralysis results in falls that can be life threatening. As for the ethics involved in this research, the benefits outweigh the costs. The “costs” of this research is that animals are used to study the disorder. In this case, there is a genetic strain of beagles that are born with the disorder and researchers use these dogs in order to better understand the disorder with perhaps finding a cure for the people with narcolepsy. This research also adds to our basic understanding of the sleep cycle.