Kurztext

Despite having been revised and criticised over the years, the Declaration of Helsinki remains one of the most important and internationally known ethics codes worldwide. Yet we know relatively little about its historical origins or about the prolonged revision process which accompanied this “living document”. The chapters presented in this volume look at the history and theory of human experimentation, assess the role of the Helsinki Declaration in an international context, and illustrate specific issues about the history and practice of research ethics through a number of case studies in the United States, Asia and Europe.
To this day, the Declaration is one of the most important landmarks in human subject research which is aimed at protecting experimental subjects in society. The current volume offers a better and historically-informed understanding of the Declaration to ensure that the existing safeguards are not only preserved but developed and improved in the future.

Die 1964 veröffentlichte Deklaration zu Helsinki ist einer der wichtigsten und international bekanntesten Kodizes zur Forschungsethik, dessen Entstehungsgeschichte von steter Kritik und zahlreichen Überarbeitungen begleitet wurde. Dennoch weiß man relativ wenig über die historischen Wurzeln und Novellierungsprozesse dieses „gewachsenen Dokuments“ der Medizingeschichte. Bis zum heutigen Tag ist die Deklaration einer der bedeutendsten Wegweiser für die Forschung am Menschen, deren grundsätzliches Ziel es ist, Versuchspersonen in medizinischen Experimenten zu schützen.
Der Band beleuchtet Geschichte und Theorie der Experimente am Menschen, untersucht die Rolle der Deklaration im internationalen Kontext und illustriert spezifische Themen zur Geschichte und Praxis der Forschungsethik anhand von Fallstudien zu den USA, Asien und Europa. Außerdem geben die Studien Einblick in die Entstehungsgeschichte der Deklaration – nicht nur um die bestehenden Standards zum Schutz von Versuchspersonen zu bewahren, sondern auch um diese zukünftig weiterzuentwickeln und zu verbessern.

Aus dem Inhalt

Ulf Schmidt / Andreas Frewer: History and Ehtics of Human Experimentation: the Twisted Road to Helsinki. An Introduction

History and Theory of Medical Research Ethics
Ulrich Tröhler: The Long Road of Moral Concern: Doctors’ Ethos and Statute Law Relating to Human Research in Europe
Dietrich von Engelhardt: The Historical and Philosophical Background of Ethics in Clinical Research
Ulf Schmidt: The Nuremberg Doctors’ Trial and the Nuremberg Code
Till Bärnighausen: Communicating “Tainted Science”: The Japanese Biological Warfare Experiments on Human Subjects in China

The Helsinki Declaration in an International Context
Susan E. Lederer: Research Without Borders: The Origins of the Declaration of Helsinki
Povl Riis: Forty Years of the Declaration of Helsinki: Progress in Medical Ethics?
Kati Myllymäki: Revising the Declaration of Helsinki: An Insiders’ View
Robert Carlson / Kenneth Boyd / David Webb: The Interpretation of Codes of Medical Ethics: Some Lessons from the Fifth Revision of the Declaration of Helsinki
David Willcox: Medical Ethics and Public Perception: The Declaration of Helsinki and its Revisions in 2000
Dominique Sprumont / Sara Girardin / Trudo Lemmens: The Helsinki Declaration and the Law: An International and Comparative Analysis

History and Ethics of Research – International Perspectives
Andreas Frewer: History of Medicine and Ethics in Conflict: Research on National Socialism as Moral Problem
Ulf Schmidt: Medical Ethics and Human Experiments at Porton Down: Informed Consent in Britain’s Biological and Chemical Warfare Experiments
John Williams: The Declaration of Helsinki. The Importance of Context
Jonathan D. Moreno: Helsinki into the Future. An Epilogue

Key Documents on the History of Research Ethics
Circular of the Reich Minister of the Interior Concerning Guidelines for New Therapy and Human Experimentation (Berlin, 1931) — The Nuremberg Code (1947) — World Medical Association: Declaration of Helsinki I (1964) — World Medical Association: Declaration of Helsinki II (Tokyo, 1975) — Council of Europe: Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine (Oviedo, 1997) — World Medical Association: Declaration of Helsinki (2004)

Autoren

• Werner Leibbrand: Leben – Weiterleben – Überleben (Band 16)
• Der T4-Gutachter F. L. Berthold Kihn (Band 15)
• Friedrich Meggendorfer (Band 14)
• Medizinethik in der DDR (Band 13)
• Das Gesunde, das Kranke und die Medizinethik (Band 12)
• Split-Brain-Forschung und ihre Folgen (Band 11)
• Tuberkulose und Menschenversuche im Nationalsozialismus (Band 10)
• In Good Health (Band 9)
• Der "Ausländereinsatz" im Gesundheitswesen (1939–1945) (Band 8)
• Medizinethik im Nationalsozialismus (Band 7)
• Gesundheitskonzepte im Wandel (Band 6)
• From Berlin to New York (Band 5)
• Carl Neuberg – Biochemie, Politik und Geschichte (Band 4)
• Medizinethik in historischer Perspektive (Band 3)
• History and Theory of Human Experimentation (Band 2)
• Medizin, Geschichte und Geschlecht (Band 1)