I think the use of placebos are important. As Dr. Simon also mentioned in his lecture, the placebo effect is a very real thing, and in order to know how effective the drug or device is, the investigator must also have a good understanding of how big of an impact the placebo effect is having on the treatment. If they don’t use a placebo, the results that they get may be highly inflated. I guess one of the downsides is that if the placebo effect is negligible, the patient wouldn’t reap the potential benefits of the new drug. However, all participants are informed of the possibility of receiving a placebo, so I do think that it is ethical to use placebos. It is a personal decision that each participant must make.