I propose in this essay to briefly describe some of the main current stakeholders who issue guidance on the ethics of human subjects research. This will be preceded by a very brief historical introduction.

Prior to World War II, as far as I have been able to ascertain, there were no international efforts to regulate human experimentation. National activities were few and far between. One exception was a Directive on Human Experimentation issued in December 1900 by the then Prussian Minister of Religious, Educational and Medical Mairs. This was followed by a Circular on innovative therapy and scientific experimentation promulgated by the then Reich Minister of the Interior in February 1931. Just over five years later, in April 1936, the Bureau of the Medico-Scientific Council of the People’s Commissariat for Health of the Russian Socialist Federated Soviet Republic (RSFSR), the main constituent Republic of the then Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, issued an Advisory Resolution on the procedures for testing new medicinal substances and methods which may present a hazard for the health and life of patients.