International Ethical Guidelines for Health-related Research involving Humans

Progress towards a world where all can enjoy optimal health and health care is crucially dependent on all kinds of research including research involving humans. Involving humans in medical research is necessary to improve the knowledge base on which medicine should be based. At the same time, individuals participating in health-related research have individual human rights and have a right to be protected against the risks that research may bring to them. The tension between these two considerations has led the medical community to endorse ethical guidelines for health-related research. Research Ethics Committees can use these guidelines to evaluate whether a given research protocol is ethically acceptable or…