NBAC recommends overhauling research protections

The National Bioethics Advisory Committee (NBAC) has recommended an extensive overhaul of the nation's human subject protection policies in a draft report, "Ethical and Policy Issues in Research Involving Human Participants," released for public comment on Tuesday. The report states that the system for protecting research participants should be expanded to ensure that all studies, regardless of the funding source, are regulated. At the same time, NBAC said that oversight mechanisms should be streamlined, in part by replacing numerous proscriptive regulations with guidance that provides clear instruction on the application of ethical principles. ...