The principles of ethics extend to all spheres of human activity and apply to our interactions with humans and our greater environment. Research often generates ethical dilemmas, which in some instances may be neither right nor wrong. In these situations it is important that those involved in research and review have clear guidelines that can facilitate decision-making. Guidelines now exist which are founded on respect for human being; research merit and integrity; justice; and beneficence. These guidelines have evolved overtime in response to specific events in human research that have violated human rights.
A well-known chapter in the history of research with human subjects begun in 1946 when criminal proceedings against 23 of Germany’s leading physicians and administrators for their contribution and perpetration of crimes against humanity. Charges included medical experiments on prisoners of concentration camps, intellectually and physically disabled people, homosexuals, twins and gypsies amongst others. Most of the subjects of these experiments died or were made permanently crippled (1).
As a result of this trial, the Nuremberg Code was created in 1948. It states that “the voluntary consent of the human subject is
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In 1949, the World Medical Association issued a code of medical ethics, the Declaration of Geneva (as this was where it was adopted) (4). Despite the well-intentioned ethical goals of the declaration, its language was too vague to be accurately interpreted and therefore impractical. The declaration was reexamined in 1953 and continued to be debated for several years until the Ethical Principles of Medical Research Involving Human Subjects, was approved in 1964. This became known as the Declaration of Helsinki, in the name of the city in which it was adopted. It has been revised several times since 1975, incorporating minor