This article critically examines the ethical issues in a longitudinal experimental study on the impact of nutrition and stimulation on early childhood development in Jamaica, originally conducted in 1991 and revisited in several cases, the last in 2022. It argues that the research involved ethically questionable practices from the outset including children in extreme poverty without guaranteeing minimal interventions and applying a double ethical standard.
The authors stress the need for ethical accountability when current research builds on ethically compromised studies. They emphasize that researchers, ethics committees, and journal editors must critically assess the ethical background and challenges of cited studies, assuming shared responsibilities upholding universal ethical principles in research involving vulnerable populations.