Biomedical research is conducted for the purpose of systematically collecting and analyzing data from which generalisable conclusions may be drawn that may aid in improving the care of currently unknown beneficiaries in the future. The conduct of human experimentation raises a large number of ethical and legal issues. In the past there were no guidelines or ethical concerns regarding the use of humans in bio medical research which resulted in large scale exploitation of the human subjects such as Nuremberg trial on prisoners, Tusegee Syphlis study (1932–1972) etc. After the world war II, many ethical principles were laid down starting from “The Nuremberg Code - (1947)” and the efforts are going on to make the practice of Biomedical research involving human subjects safe. This article traces the progress made in laying down the ethical principles and guidelines over the years and what more needs to be down. The literature on the subject is also reviewed.
Human experimentation, Biomedical research, Ethical issues in human research, Legal issues in human experimentation
