Research ethics--a widening of the scope and extrapolation into the future

Until recently, the concept of research ethics covered only the safety of, and the respect for, the research subject, i.e. the trial patient and the healthy volunteer. The reason was obviously that human research subjects are the most vulnerable of all key persons involved in biomedical research, and the fact that this vulnerability was made tragically visible through the atrocities of World War II. Not in any way to detract importance from this part of research ethics these years experience a widening of the conceptual scope, involving not only the researcher and his or her honesty but also society as a whole, not just duties and rights considered unilaterally but bilaterally. And further, including perspectives as science freedom and a given generation's responsibility for its global fellow-men and for future generations.