History is unfortunately peppered with stories of abuse carried out in the context of medical research. No one can remain unaware of the dreadful medical atrocities of the Nazi period, some of which were carried out by doctors motivated as much by scientific curiosity as by Nazi ideology. In the late 1990s, the US President, Bill Clinton, offered an apology to the families of those men involved in the infamous Tuskegee project, and in the opening years of the new millennium there has been international concern over the conduct of clinical trials in the developing world. In an attempt to protect individuals from abuse, international and national guidelines now govern this area of science, and in the United Kingdom research is carefully monitored through the work of funding bodies, peer review systems, Local Research Ethics Committees (LRECs) and Multi-Centre Research Ethics Committees (MRECs). However, at ground level, the moral responsibilities primarily lie with those who design and carry out the research, and then publicise the findings. It is therefore crucially important that these individuals understand the ethical issues that arise when human beings come under the scientific gaze.

The benefits of good medical research speak for them selves. In our own lifetime, killer diseases have been eradicated, death sentences have been lifted from a number of diseases, and incredible advances have been made in such areas as reproductive technology and transplant surgery. However, there are still important battles to be won, and discoveries we yearn to make. If research is to continue to bring about the benefits we hope for, we have to accept that there will be costs involved.