Читать книгу Evaluation in Today’s World - Veronica G. Thomas - Страница 50

The origins of our present-day approach to research ethics can be traced back to the Nuremberg Code established in 1947. This code, including a set of 10 research ethics principles, followed the December 1946 criminal proceedings against 23 leading German physicians and administrators for their willing participation in war crimes and crimes against humanity. Horrifying procedures, such as the breaking and rebreaking of bones to see how many times they could be broken before healing, were conducted for research purposes on thousands of concentration camp prisoners without their informed consent; most of these prisoners either died or were permanently disabled as a result. The first principle of the Nuremberg Code, which was a radical idea at the time, was that voluntary, active consent of the human participant is absolutely essential. Two other principles included the rights of people to withdraw from research and to protect themselves. The Nuremberg Code also included a principle articulating that it is the duty of researchers to act in the best interests of those who take part in research for the good of society.