National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioral Research was the first public national body to shape bioethics policy in the United States.
Formed in the aftermath of the Tuskegee Experiment scandal, the Commission was created in 1974 as Title II of the National Research Act. It was part of the United States Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (DHEW) until 1978.
The Commission had four goals that it needed to analyze: 1. the boundaries between biomedical and behavioral research and what the accepted and routine practices of medicine were, 2. assessing the risks and benefits of the appropriateness of research involving human subjects, 3. determining appropriate guidelines for how human subjects can be chosen for the participation in such research and 4. defining what informed consent is in each research setting.
The Commission also had the task of making recommendations to the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare and Congress for the protection of Human subjects. The commission produced their Reports and Recommendations on the following areas of research:
- Research on the Fetus (1975)
- Research Involving Prisoners (1976)
- Research Involving Children (1977)
- Psychosurgery Report and Recommendations (March 1977)
- Disclosure of Research Information Under the Freedom of Information Act (April 1977)
- Research Involving Those Institutionalized as Mentally Infirm (1978)
- Ethical Guidelines for the Delivery of Health Services by DHEW (1978)
- Appendix to Ethical Guidelines for the Delivery of Health Services by DHEW (1978)
- Institutional Review Boards (1978)
- Special Study Implications of Advances in Biomedical and Behavioral Research (1978)
- The Belmont Report: Ethical Principles and Guidelines for Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioral Research (1979)
These reports contained their recommendations, the underlying deliberations and conclusions, a dissenting statement and additional statement by commission members and summaries of materials presented to the Commission. An appendix was also included which contained complete text reports and papers prepared for the commission on the ethical, legal and medical aspects of the different research areas examined and other material reviewed by the commission in its deliberations.
The commission established limits on Biomedical research such that pregnant women and their fetus' were not harmed by researchers or exposed to any form of risk. The commission further established that the health of a pregnant woman or her fetus could not be compromised under any circumstance for the purposes of research no matter how minute the perceived risk may be. Furthermore, the commission suggested lifting the moratorium imposed on abortion research at that time under the condition that no inducements were offered to subjects to undergo an abortion for the purpose of research. However research on a dead fetus or dead fetal tissue was approved. Lastly, non-therapeutic research upon a pregnant woman or fetus was approved only under the extenuating circumstance that important biomedical knowledge could not be obtained through any other means and that permission was granted to researchers by the subject.
The Commission was succeeded by the President's Commission for the Study of Ethical Problems in Medicine and Biomedical and Behavioral Research.
Read more about National Commission For The Protection Of Human Subjects Of Biomedical And Behavioral Research: See Also
Famous quotes containing the words national, commission, protection, human, subjects and/or research:
“In our brief national history we have shot four of our presidents, worried five of them to death, impeached one and hounded another out of office. And when all else fails, we hold an election and assassinate their character.”
—P.J. (Patrick Jake)
“Yesterday the Electoral Commission decided not to go behind the papers filed with the Vice-President in the case of Florida.... I read the arguments in the Congressional Record and can’t see how lawyers can differ on the question. But the decision is by a strictly party vote—eight Republicans against seven Democrats! It shows the strength of party ties.”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)
“... actresses require protection in their art from blind abuse, from savage criticism. Their work is their religion, if they are seeking the best in their art, and to abuse that faith is to rob them, to dishonor them.”
—Nance O’Neil (1874–1965)
“Every epoch which seeks renewal first projects its ideal into a human form. In order to comprehend its own essence tangibly, the spirit of the time chooses a human being as its prototype and raising this single individual, often one upon whom it has chanced to come, far beyond his measure, the spirit enthuses itself for its own enthusiasm.”
—Stefan Zweig (18811942)
“While the system of holding people in hostage is as old as the oldest war, a fresher note is introduced when a tyrannic state is at war with its own subjects and may hold any citizen in hostage with no law to restrain it.”
—Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977)
“One of the most important findings to come out of our research is that being where you want to be is good for you. We found a very strong correlation between preferring the role you are in and well-being. The homemaker who is at home because she likes that “job,” because it meets her own desires and needs, tends to feel good about her life. The woman at work who wants to be there also rates high in well-being.”
—Grace Baruch (20th century)