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The History and Role of Institutional Review Boards: A Useful Tension | Journal of Ethics | American Medical Association

journalofethics.ama-assn.org · 2,505 words · saved by 1 readers

“Act in such a way that you treat humanity, whether in your own person or in the person of any other, always at the same time as an end and never merely as a means to an end” [1]. Immanuel Kant’s second maxim defines the tension that drives and bedevils IRBs. Human-subjects research uses humans as subjects, as a means to an end. The imperative that it is never merely as a means, but always also as an end in themselves, makes IRBs necessary. The history of human-subjects research is replete with horrid examples of what happens when investigators fail to respect humans as ends in themselves. Even after the Nuremberg trials exposed the Nazi war crimes and the Nuremberg Code provided a clear statement of standards for research on human subjects, unethical research programs continued to be designed and conducted [2]. In the United States, the Willowbrook study of hepatitis transmission in a hospital for mentally impaired children, Tuskegee Syphilis Study, Fernald State School trials using r

Virtual Mentor. 2009;11(4):311-316. doi: 10.1001/virtualmentor.2009.11.4.pfor1-0904. Citation PDF Altmetric “Act in such a way that you treat humanity, whether in your own person or in the person of any other, always at the same time as an end and never merely as a means to an end” [1]. Immanuel Kant’s second maxim defines the tension that drives and bedevils IRBs. Human-subjects research uses humans as subjects, as a means to an end. The imperative that it is never merely as a means, but always also as an end in themselves, makes IRBs necessary. The history of human-subjects research is reple

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