New breakthrough in HR+ & hormone therapy for breast cancer

Ethics committees are a vital component of any research project. This concept extends past the health arena. Ethics committees ensure that any project is not just lawful, but that it adheres to the ethical standards of the organization that is supporting the proposal.

They can be a right pain in the arse on occasions, but they exist to make sure that no-one spears off and starts conducting experiments, supporting  treatments or concepts (or even just asking questions in a survey) that do not protect the participants from potential harm and the organization itself from litigation or reputational damage.

Ethics committees will also, in theory, pick up conflicts of interest and tick all manner of boxes relating to the relationship between the proposal and the  organization's operations. Issues can arise when an idea/concept/product is so novel that it can't be reasonably compared against previous projects in the organization's  field. It's then that they really have to work--'Is this thing genuine, is it a good idea, is there any evidence to support this? Is it part of our remit? What happens if we are wrong?'

It all sounds like a load of old cobblers, but without ethics committees all manner of shitty behavior would go on. It would be really hard for anyone to figure out what was a legitimate project and what was just the classic evil professor (either established or in embryo) doing what ever he/she felt like.

Ethics committees have been responsible for doing all sort of good stuff; putting in standards controlling the treatment of animals during research in universities, for example.

Not sure if that helps. Marg