The Nuremberg Code The Nuremberg Code emerged at the end of World War II, and the prosecution of the Nazi war criminals by the International Military Tribunal. The tribunal’s decisionincludes what is now called the Nuremberg Code, a 10-point statement outlining permissible medical experimentation on human participants. The code clarified many of the basic principles governing the ethical conduct of research. The first provision of the code requires that “the voluntary informed consent of the human subject is absolutely essential.” The code provides other details implied by such a requirement including, the capacity to consent, freedom from coercion and comprehension of the risks and benefits involved in the research. Other provisions require …show more content…
It was most recently revised in 2000, following the heavy criticism of placebo-controlled AZT studies in Africa. In this revision, the use of placebo controls has been limited to special circumstances and is not recommended in cases where a proven prophylactic, diagnostic or therapeutic method exists. The current version also requires access to benefits for all study participants. The Belmont Report In 1972, the public became aware of the Tuskegee study, which took place in the southern United States from 1932 to 1972. More than 400 men with latent syphilis were followed for the natural course of the disease rather than receiving treatment. The study continued to deny men treatment even after antibiotics were discovered in the 1940s. This study was all the more infamous because the participants were all poor African-Americans, a disadvantaged group in the southern United States at the time. As a result, in 1974 the National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioral Research was established. In 1978, the commission submitted its report titled, The Belmont Report: Ethical Principles and Guidelines for the Protection of Human Subjects of Research. The report sets forth the fundamental ethical principles underlying the acceptable conduct of research involvinghuman