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Symposium: Bioethics in Scientific Research: Conflicts Between Subject's Equitable Access To Participate in Research and Current Regulations
Symposium: Bioethics in Scientific Research: Conflicts Between Subject's Equitable Access To Participate in Research and Current Regulations
1
Ann M. Ferris and Grace S. Marquis
2
*
Center for Public Health and Health Policy and the Department of Nutritional Sciences, University of
Connecticut, Storrs, CT 06268-4017 and *Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, Iowa State
University, Ames, IA 50011-1061
●
The inclusion of differing societal approaches to decision
making and the implications that following or not fol-
lowing such approaches can have on the success of a
research protocol. It is generally accepted that parental
permission must be granted before a minor can be in-
cluded in a research protocol. In other situations and
societies, similar expectations exist for community ap-
proval before an individual can participate or for a hus-
band’s approval before a wife can join a study. What are
the moral, ethical, and research implications of seeking
such approval and how do these approval processes affect
individual consent? Similar questions arise when adults
with more limited resources are designated as a “vulner-
able” population by the majority society and thus, are due
more protection.
●
The promotion of community involvement in the setting
of research priorities, the design of studies, the analysis
and evaluation of data, and the decimation of data. To
what extent and under what circumstances should re-
search priorities be set by the population studied? How
does this priority setting interface with the consent and
review process? What rights and controls do study pop-
ulations have over the decimation of data produced?
What tensions develop when the research is not exclu-
sively designed to benefit the population studies?
●
The assurance of effective and inclusive study recruit-
ment and retention. Societies and subpopulations within
those societies have differing expectations for socializa-
tion. The researcher who does not understand the subtle
messages of those groups may discourage subject partici-
pation and inclusion of their data in the analyses and the
interpretation of outcomes. For example, some groups
expect social distance, whereas others expect the oppo-
site if they are to participate and to continue in the study.
Others with minimal or low literacy may be intimidated
by extensive consent forms and chose not to investigate
participation. How and if these issues need to be part of
the review process needs to be addressed.
1
Presented as part of the symposium “Bioethics in Scientific Research:
Conflicts between Subject’s Equitable Access to Participate in Research and
Current Regulations” given at the 2004 Experimental Biology meeting on April 19,
2004, Washington, DC. The symposium was sponsored by the American Society
for Nutritional Sciences and the Community and Public Health Nutrition and
Nutrition Education Research Interest Sections, and supported in part by an
unrestricted grant from the Dannon Institute. The proceedings are published as a
supplement to
The Journal of Nutrition
. This supplement is the responsibility of
the Guest Editors to whom the Editor of
The Journal of Nutrition
has delegated
supervision of both technical conformity to the published regulations of
The
Journal of Nutrition
and general oversight of the scientific merit of each article.
The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and are not
attributable to the sponsors or the publisher, editor, or editorial board of
The
Journal of Nutrition
. The Guest Editors for the symposium publication are Ann M.
Ferris, Center for Public Health and Health Policy and the Department of Nutri-
tional Sciences, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, and Grace S. Marquis,
Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, Iowa Sate University,
Ames, IA.
2
To whom correspondence should be addressed.
E-mail: gmarquis@iastate.edu.
0022-3166/05 $8.00 © 2005 American Society for Nutritional Sciences. J. Nutr. 135: 916–917, 2005.
916
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