Participants in biobank studies are often asked for broad consent to use their data.
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Biobanks collect and store large amounts of data that researchers use to conduct a wide range of studies. Making sure participants understand what they’re getting into can help build trust in science.
Prisoners at a yard at the Nebraska State Penitentiary in Lincoln, Neb.
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A scholar who has studied imprisonment explains why the promise of sentence reductions in return for organ donation raises ethical issues about whether inmates can ever consent freely.
Research comes with risks, so participants must be protected and supported as much as possible.
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With no clear biomedical basis for most early surgery on intersex children, interventions should be postponed until a child is competent to decide for themselves.
Before drafting legislation that seeks to protect sex workers and minors, law-makers should consult with sex workers.
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Aged-care residents will be among the first to receive the Pfizer vaccine when the rollout begins next week. For some, the process of consenting to the vaccine could raise ethical questions.
There is a growing call for so-called challenge trials to speed up vaccine development.
The Royal New Zealand Navy during a recovery operation on Whakaari/White Island, on December 13. Rescue and recovery efforts have been hampered by hazardous conditions on the island, and the danger of another eruption.
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The tragedy at Whakaari/White Island highlights the need for consent forms to ensure tourists are fully informed when choosing to visit dangerous locations.
Sharing electronic medical records broadly could identify trends as well as mistakes, but it also poses privacy concerns.
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A project involving tens of millions of patient records poses ethical issues, even though patients could ultimately gain. Here’s why privacy concerns are a hurdle.
Human challenge studies can be useful to test new vaccines and are increasingly being used internationally. Yet there are several ethical issues to consider.
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Deliberately infecting people with a disease-causing agent as part of carefully considered medical research can be ethically acceptable or even necessary.
Your phone tracks your movements all the time.
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Most tech companies make it difficult for users to say no to aggressive surveillance practices. But it is helpful to know about the default settings on your smartphone and how to change them.
What does oversight really ensure?
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Questions abound about whether the scientist who created the first gene edited human beings took shortcuts in the ethical oversight process. But pedantically focusing on protocol misses the point.
It’s hard to plan for future fertility.
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Conversations about reproduction should be a routine part of medical care for transgender people – but assumptions and non-inclusive language can act as barriers to informed consent.
Online users are not able to give totally informed consent if their permission is sought for multiple things at once.
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Space terrorism and testing of space tourists are theoretical problems today. But let’s have conversations right now to make sure they don’t become real problems in the future.
Do you know how the data from your running app is being used?
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Apps and wearable devices promise greater participation and empowerment in health care. But what are we risking when we take part in this new era of participatory health?
Obama annually welcomed students to the White House with their Science Fair projects.
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The outgoing president leaves behind some solid accomplishments in the world of science, tech and medicine. But the biggest departure from his predecessors might have been in his approach.
Who’s in charge once your biological material is out of your body?
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Next-generation genomic research depends on study participants sharing their biological materials with scientists. But concerns over how that information is protected may hold some people back.
Director of the Steve Biko Centre for Bioethics and Adjunct Professor and Head of Department of Bioethics at the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand