United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office Health, Education, and Human Services Division author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 1996-03-08 monographic deposited born digital 50 p. GA 1.13:HEHS-96-72 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-HEHS-96-72 P0b002ee180388b14 f:he96072 DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-28 GAOREPORTS-HEHS-96-72 machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-HEHS-96-72 HEHS-96-72 Ethical conduct Biological research Behavioral sciences research Pharmacological research Safety regulation Research program management Safety standards Informed consent (medical law) Letter Report HEHS Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the federal oversight systems for protecting human subjects in federally sponsored scientific experiments, focusing on whether the oversight procedures: (1) have reduced the likelihood of abuses of human subjects; and (2) have weaknesses that could limit their effectiveness.<p/>GAO found that: (1) federal efforts to prevent the abuse of human research subjects include establishing institutional review boards, educating the research community, and requiring written commitments from researchers to comply with standards for the protection of human subjects; (2) although these efforts work to prevent harm to participants in most experimental studies, the effectiveness of those standards in ensuring compliance has not been systematically studied; (3) federal monitoring activities for the protection of human research subjects include on-site inspections and reviews of study documentation, institutional review board operations, and allegations of misconduct; (4) actions to enforce the human research subject protection requirements include research restrictions, researcher disqualification, criminal prosecution, and suspensions from conducting further research; and (5) the oversight procedures are impaired by institutional review boards' heavy workloads and competing demands, limited funds for on-site inspections, the complexity and volume of research under review, and reliance on researchers' self-assurances that they are complying with requirements. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-HEHS-96-72/html/GAOREPORTS-HEHS-96-72.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-HEHS-96-72/pdf/GAOREPORTS-HEHS-96-72.pdf GAO/HEHS-96-72 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-HEHS-96-72 Letter Report GAO/HEHS-96-72; Scientific Research: Continued Vigilance Critical to Protecting Human Subjects; Ethical conduct Biological research Behavioral sciences research Pharmacological research Safety regulation Research program management Safety standards Informed consent (medical law)