Chapitre 3. Research ethics committees: a critical comparison between Argentina and the United States

Abstract

This article identifies some of the problems ethics committees (IRB) in the United States are facing. It considers some of the criticisms that followed the suspension of all federally supported research projects at Johns Hopkins University following the death of a 24-year-old healthy volunteer. It considers some of the comments made by the internal and external commissions called by the University, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Office for Human Research Protections (OHRP). It also describes the situation of research ethics committees in Argentina and then compares their situation with that of the IRBs in the United States.