Last week, Nicholas Wade reported in The New York Times that the President had pulled the plug on the most-recent version of the President’s Council on Bioethics. According to White House press officer, Reid Cherlin, President Obama disbanded the Council because it was “a philosophically leaning advisory group.” Wade also reports that Obama plans to [...]
Entries from June 2009
June 18, 2009
Clinical Trials in India: Research Ethics in the News
The Times of India reports that the Drugs Controller of India has stipulated that all clinical trials (new and ongoing) in India must be registered with The Clinical Trials Registry- India (CTRI). The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) expects that this will increase transparency and assist in the ethical conduct of research while adding [...]
June 12, 2009
Ether and the Moral History of Pain: Research Ethics in the News
What can the history of medicine teach us about the barriers to translation? What are some of the obstacles between the bench and the bedside?
In a recent edition of The Boston Globe (7 June 2009), Mike Jay recounts an
interesting moment in the history of medicine and medical research, one in which “culture had finally caught [...]
June 11, 2009
Ethical and Policy Issues in International Research, Fall 2009
Please see the attached detailed summary for PHL 555 “Ethical and Policy Issues in International Research,” which will be taught this fall by Dr. Eric Meslin, Director of the Indiana University Center for Bioethics. The class will be held once a week in the IU Center for Bioethics conference room, 3rd floor of the HITS [...]
June 8, 2009
Industry; Transgenic Monkeys; Offshore Trials: Research Ethics in the News
Industry
Industry Funding of Research: Assessing the Harms. Susan Gilbert, Bioethics Forum. 29 May 2009.
No one argues about the importance of industry funding to medical research. Most clinical trials could not take place without it. The questions are about the effects of this relationship–does it bias researchers and degrade scientific integrity and, if so, in what [...]
June 5, 2009
REBs and Inclusion: Research Ethics in the Academic Literature (REAL)
In a recent paper, Holly A. Taylor reports the results of a study on the role of the NIH inclusion guidelines and the attitudes of IRB administrators. Administrators of Research Ethics Boards (REBs) agree that the topic of including women, minorities, and children in research is “often discussed by their Boards”. While most REB administrators [...]
June 4, 2009
Ethics Exchange: Western Australia
Indiana University Center for Bioethics director Eric Meslin recently
returned from his trip to Australia. While adding to our growing collaborations with researchers and ethicists in Australia, Eric served as Visiting Professor-at-Large at the University of Western Australia. Recently, the IU Center for Bioethics, the Indiana CTSI, and the Indiana University School of Medicine, were pleased [...]
June 4, 2009
Brain Stimulation: Research Ethics in the News
With deep brain stimulation, experts want to tread carefully. Andreas von Bubnoff. Los Angeles Times, June 1, 2009.
Deep brain stimulation research also raises ethical questions, such as how to make sure patients who may have diminished capacity to consent understand the risks and benefits of participating in the trials. In 2007, researchers met to discuss [...]
