Vilius Dranseika

Two decades have passed since the first attempts were made to establish systematic ethical review of human research in the Baltic States. Legally and institutionally much has changed. In this paper we provide an historical and structural overview of ethical review of human research and identify some problems related to the role of ethical review in establishing quality research environment in these countries. Problems connected to (a) public availability of information, (b) management of conflicts of interest, (c) REC composition and motivation of REC members, and (d) differing levels of stringency of ethical review for different types of studies, are identified. Recommendations are made to strengthen cooperation among the Baltic RECs.

Straipsnyje siūlomos konceptualios priemonės, leidžiančios formuluoti tvirtinimą, kad tose socialinių mokslų filosofijos teorijose, kuriose veiksmų atpažinimas yra laikomas metodologiniu socialinio aiškinimo pagrindu, jis yra traktuojamas kaip „virtus dormitiva“. Tuomet veiksmų atpažinimas gali būti suprantamas kaip tiesioginė veiksmų tipų įžvalga elgsenoje arba neapibrėžta, holistinė veiksmų interpretavimo procedūra. Abiem atvejais susiduriama su neskaidrios ir toliau neaiškinamos pažįstančiojo episteminės galios postulavimu. „Virtus dormitiva“ problema tampa ypač aštri, jei pripažįstame veiksmo atpažinimo problemos metodologinį pirmumą prieš veiksmo aiškinimo problemą1.Pagrindiniai žodžiai: veiksmų atpažinimas, veiksmų aiškinimas, veiksmų tipai ir atvejai, socialinių mokslų filosofija

We analyse the system of ethical review of human research in the Baltic States by introducing the principle of equivalent stringency of ethical review, that is, research projects imposing equal risks and inconveniences on research participants should be subjected to equally stringent review procedures. We examine several examples of non-equivalence or asymmetry in the system of ethical review of human research: (1) the asymmetry between rather strict regulations of clinical drug trials and relatively weaker regulations of other types of clinical biomedical research and (2) gaps in ethical review in the area of non-biomedical human research where some sensitive research projects are not reviewed by research ethics committees at all. We conclude that non-equivalent stringency of ethical review is at least partly linked to the differences in scope and binding character of various international legal instruments that have been shaping the system of ethical review in the Baltic States. Therefore, the Baltic example could also serve as an object lesson to other European countries which might be experiencing similar problems.

The article deals with the problems discussed in neuroethics a rapidly developing field of applied ethics. The term “neuroethics” is discussed in the article and is suggested to group neuroethical problems into four groups: (1) ethical problems connected with brain imaging technologies, (2) ethical problems connected with the technologies that allow to manipulate the activity and properties of the brain, (3) the influence of the neuroscientific worldview on our considerations on morality, and (4) general metaphilosophical considerations on neuroethics itself. The article concludes with a discussion of the relation between neuroethics and bioethics.