Ethics committees and medical research: the Australian experience

Australian ethics committees have a central role in the regulation of medical research. Recently this role has come under public criticism despite the fact that there are almost no Australian studies of the workings of ethics committees. This paper looks at the problems and advantages of ethics committees in the light of some studies, including two recent Australian investigations. It concludes by proposing a model of regulation that utilizes the strengths of ethics committees while avoiding the problems which can arise as a result of their self-regulating nature.