Response to a Call for Evidence issued by the Nuffield Council on Bioethics as part of its project Human Bodies: Donation for Medicine and Research
13 July 2010
This policy document is a response submitted by the Progress Educational Trust (PET) to the Nuffield Council on Bioethics' Consultation on Human Bodies in Medicine and Research.
PET is grateful to Dr Karen Devine and Anoushka Shepherd for their contribution to this document.
Those who responded to the consultation were asked the questions listed below. Questions in bold can be clicked on to take you to PET's response. Where questions are not in bold, PET declined to express a view.
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Are there any additional types of human bodily material that could raise ethical concerns?
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Should any particular type(s) of human bodily material be singled out as 'special' in some way?
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What do you consider the costs, risks or benefits (to the individual concerned, their relatives, or others close to them) of participating in a first-in-human clinical trial?
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Would you be willing to provide bodily material for some purposes but not for others? How would you prioritise purposes?
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Would your willingness to participate in a first-in-human trial be affected by the purpose of the medicine being tested? How would you prioritise purposes?
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Are there any other values you think should be taken into consideration?
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Can there be a moral duty to participate in first-in-human trials? If so
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Is it right always to try to meet demand? Are some 'needs' or 'demands' more pressing than others?
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Are there forms of incentive that are unethical in themselves
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Is there any kind of incentive that would make you less likely to agree to provide material or participate in a trial? Why?
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To whom, if anyone, should a dead body or its parts belong?
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Should the laws in the UK permit a person to sell their bodily material for all or any purposes?
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Should companies who benefit commercially from others' willingness to donate human bodily material or volunteer in a trial share the proceeds of those gains in any way? If so, how?