The experience of the research ethics committees in Turkey

In this article the experience of the research ethics committees in Turkey, which are nearly ten years old, is introduced. Although the legislation related to Research on Human Beings by using Drugs and Chemical Substances, issued on 29th January 1993 by the Ministry of Health, there are a lot of problems about RECs, for example the central ethics committee has no medical ethicist as a member, and there is no ethical concept other than "consent" in their operational procedures. Membership characteristics of the ECs, and their specialty areas described functions of the ECs, the forms used, and the major items used for the evaluation of the proposals are explained. Finally the ethics committee of the Turkish Medical Association is also introduced as another model of ECs in Turkey.