Editing Placebo (section)

===In research trials===
Knowingly giving a person a placebo when there is an effective treatment available is a bioethically complex issue. While placebo-controlled trials might provide information about the effectiveness of a treatment, it denies some patients what could be the best available (if unproven) treatment. [[Informed consent]] is usually required for a study to be considered ethical, including the disclosure that some test subjects will receive placebo treatments.

The ethics of placebo-controlled studies have been debated in the revision process of the [[Declaration of Helsinki]]. Of particular concern has been the difference between trials comparing inert placebos with experimental treatments, versus comparing the best available treatment with an experimental treatment; and differences between trials in the sponsor's developed countries versus the trial's targeted developing countries.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Kottow M | title = The improper use of research placebos | journal = Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice | volume = 16 | issue = 6 | pages = 1041–4 | date = December 2010 | pmid = 20663001 | doi = 10.1111/j.1365-2753.2009.01246.x }}</ref>

Some suggest that existing medical treatments should be used instead of placebos, to avoid having some patients not receive medicine during the trial.<ref name="michels">{{cite journal | vauthors = Michels KB | title = The placebo problem remains | journal = Archives of General Psychiatry | volume = 57 | issue = 4 | pages = 321–2 | date = April 2000 | pmid = 10768689 | doi = 10.1001/archpsyc.57.4.321 }}</ref>