Ethical committees evaluate all scientific research to protect the study subjects’ rights, safety, and well-being. Medical research means all research that interferes with the immunity of a human, embryo, or fetus (2).
Interference with immunity includes, for example, laboratory tests, physical fitness tests, or ingesting a food product (1). Each well-being services county has its own ethical committee that evaluates, follows up, and guides in research ethics-related topics (2). For example, the RAVI and Mind Nutrition studies have gone through ethical evaluation.
A plan for the ethical evaluation includes consideration of at least the following seven topics (table 1):
Table 1: Ethical considerations in research.
- The need for and importance of the study
- Appropriateness of the research methods
- Benefits and risks and the means of compensating for possible harms
- The protocol for recruitment and informed consent
- Competence of the researchers and financing the research
- Appropriateness of the study environment and devices
- Reasoning when examining special groups
The main ethical principle is that harm to the study subjects should be minimized, and benefits should be greater than harms (1,2). The subject's self-determination and protection of cultural heritage and biodiversity are also general principles (1). The subject's role is well protected, as they can always withdraw from the study and can not be identified in research publications. Personal information use and identity protection must be carefully regulated. However, some researchers have claimed that the strict regulations sometimes complicate the research (3).
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It can be difficult to comprehend which types of activities are considered unethical. For example, giving any kind of reward or compensation, such as a lottery of movie tickets, is against ethical principles (2). Carefulness is required also when processing the data: for example, when working outside of the ETA area, processing the data is considered an information transfer even if no data is sent or transferred to a new place (4). The regional ethical committee can be consulted for complicated ethical questions.
References
- Tutkimuseettinen neuvottelukunta (TENK). Ihmiseen kohdistuvan tutkimuksen eettiset periaatteet ja ihmistieteiden eettinen ennakkoarviointi Suomessa. Tutkimuseettisen neuvottelukunnan ohje 2019. Tutkimuseettinen neuvottelukunta; 2019. Saatavilla: https://tenk.fi/sites/default/files/2021-01/Ihmistieteiden_eettisen_ennakkoarvioinnin_ohje_2020.pdf
- Finlex. Laki lääketieteellisestä tutkimuksesta 1999/488. Saatavilla: https://www.finlex.fi/fi/laki/ajantasa/1999/19990488
- Helsingin Sanomat (HS). Laki toimii päinvastoin kuin piti. Pääkirjoitus. 4.8.2024; Saatavilla: https://www.hs.fi/paakirjoitukset/art-2000010601914.html
- Opetushallitus. Tietosuojaopas. Henkilötietojen siirto ETA-alueen ulkopuolelle. In [viitattu 12.9.2024]. Saatavilla: https://www.oph.fi/fi/koulutus-ja-tutkinnot/henkilotietojen-siirto-eta-alueen-ulkopuolelle