Ethical genetic research on human subjects

Abstract

Since the Nuremberg trials and the Nazi doctors trial following World War II, international ethics protocols have emerged designed to protect human subjects from the atrocities of medical experimentation that were literally routine under the Nazis. Some of the apparent "lessons" from the Nazi period have been encapsulated in the Declaration of Helsinki, perhaps the leading medical ethics protocol. This paper argues that these protocols have not been notably conducive to human welfare or to the protection of human rights in the field of human genetics research. The paper proposes new protocols and a new approach to the ethics of research on human subjects.