Institutional Review Board (IRB)

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Many times government studies and research are brought into question for their ethical practices. Who holds the government accountable to conduct ethical research? One institution came about due to the numerous unethical practices that were discovered in the early 40s-60s. This Institutional Review Board (IRB) works to protect people’s ethical privileges and rights during research experiments “The IRB is an administrative body established to protect the rights and welfare of human research subjects recruited to participate in research activities conducted under the auspices of the institution with which it is affiliated” (Chapter One: Institutional Administration, n.d.: p 1). It also works to enlighten people with the appropriate and proper …show more content…
p69). The CIA began testing unknowing people by placing drugs in their beverages, injecting certain serums, and using hypnotic methods to practice brainwashing methods “an ‘extensive testing and experimentation’ program which included covert drug tests on unwitting citizens ‘at all social levels, high and low, native Americans and foreign.’ Several of these tests involved the administration of LSD to ‘unwitting subjects in social situations’” (Senate Joint Committee Hearing, 1977: p 2). Unfortunately, many of the test subjects projected negative side effects to the substances and became severely ill “Often, the randomly selected subjects had “become ill for hours or days, including hospitalization in at least one case” (One of the Most Shocking CIA Programs of all Time, 2013: p 2). The means with which the research was gathered and how the tests were administered strongly contradicted the ethical values that should be administered to patients in any research …show more content…
According to the IRB “Research investigators are responsible for obtaining informed consent and ensuring that no human subject will be involved in the research prior to obtaining the consent” (Chapter One: Institutional Administration, n.d.: p 6). There was also a lack of accountability to any agency or source that would ensure safe practices were being observed during this experiment. “Before any human subjects research can be conducted, the institution must provide the department or agency a written Assurance that it will comply with the requirements of the Policy” (Chapter One: Institutional Administration, n.d.: p 4). The practices used by the government officials to gather research were extremely unethical and detrimental to the subjects and their family members. To safeguard against these instances from reoccurring, programs like the IRB commenced to prevent further violations of citizen’s rights and