Página 174 - Dimensiones éticas de las regulaciones en salud

173
Ethics of research with humans in Brazil1
Leo Pessini, William Saad Hossne
Introduction
One of the characteristics of Brazil is its growing competence and confi-
dence in the area of scientific and technological research. Considerable ad-
vances have occurred in the fields of pharmaceutics, medicine and the life
sciences in general. As a result, we have seen a growing awareness of the
need for ethical oversight of research done on human subjects to prevent
exploitation of the poor individuals, victims of cultural and economic in-
equalities, who survive on incomes below subsistence level. These people
are vulnerable due to cultural and economic inequalities.
The aim of this text is to trace briefly the emergence of Brazilian research
ethics in recent years (1996) and present some figures updated of the pro-
cess, pointing some basic challenges of education in the field.
The emergence of Brazilian research ethics
The National Commission of Ethics in Research (CONEP) was created in
1996, is a Commission essentially bioethics in nature (no more than half
of its members belong to the same field of expertise). It comprises profes-
sionals from backgrounds in medicine and health sciences, humanities,
exact sciences, theology, and representatives of individuals with a disease
(research subjects). It is responsible for establishing norms and coordinat-
ing all types of human research in any field.
1 Supported in part by grant number 5R25TW006056 – 06 NIH-Fogarty International
Center.