Preventing Unethical Research: Nuremberg Code, Declaration of Helsinki, and Belmont Report

00:00 Hi, I'm Doctor Rhonda Laws, and I'm going to discuss how we prevent unethical research or the lessons we learned through the Nuremberg Code, the Declaration of Helsinki, and the Belmont Report.

00:13 The Nuremberg Code emerged as a response to the atrocities of the Holocaust.

00:18 Now, it was a key outcome of the Nuremberg trials.

00:21 Now, the trials were a series of military tribunals held in 1946, and their goal was to prosecute prominent leaders of the Nazi regime.

00:30 They were prosecuted for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

00:34 Now, during the Doctors Trial, one of the Nuremberg Trials, 23 physicians and scientists were accused of conducting unethical and criminal medical experiments. So that's the origin of the Nuremberg Code.

00:47 It was established in 1947 as a set of ethical guidelines for human experimentation. It outlined the principles to ensure that such atrocities would not be repeated in the name of scientific research.

01:00 Now, the primary ethical principles embodied in the Nuremberg Code include the requirement of voluntary and informed consent, the necessity of scientific justification for the research, and the importance of minimizing harm to participants.

01:16 The horrific nature of the Nazi experiments underscored the critical need for internationally accepted standards to protect the rights and the well-being of individuals participating in the research.

01:29 The Nuremberg Code laid the foundation for subsequent ethical guidelines and regulations. Now these include the Declaration of Helsinki and it has had a lasting impact on shaping ethical standards in medical and scientific research globally.

01:44 Now let's talk about the Declaration of Helsinki.

01:47 Now, the World Medical Association introduced the Declaration of Helsinki in 1964.

01:52 This was serving as a set of ethical guidelines for medical researchers worldwide.

01:57 Now it emphasizes the need for informed consent, scientific and social value of research, and the importance of independent review by ethics committees.

02:07 The Belmont Report was issued by the United States Department of Health, Education and Welfare in 1979.

02:14 It outlines the ethical principles and guidelines for research involving human subjects. It highlights respect for persons, beneficence, and justice as fundamental principles in research.

02:26 So as we wrap this up, the Nuremberg Code, the Declaration of Helsinki and the Belmont Report are three things that led to the protections of research participants that we still use today.

02:37 Although these are the most often studied, unfortunately there are numerous other ethical and legal transgressions in the history of research that we should consider.

02:46 Even today, there are researchers that compromise the integrity of using research to gain knowledge.

02:52 It is important to understand ways that you, as a healthcare professional, can protect research participants.