Ethics on Trial - by Janice E Parente (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Exposing the human consequences of Canada's broken research system.

The governance framework for human research in Canada is dangerously flawed and has the potential to lead to harm and suffering.

Canadian researchers and research companies have been allowed to flirt with informed consent; choose research ethics boards with less restrictive oversight; and violate the rights, safety, and welfare of Canadians - including those in situations of vulnerability - under the indifferent eye of a federal government unwilling to fix the system.

In Ethics on Trial, Janice E. Parente - who has led the fight for oversight and accountability of human research in Canada for three decades - shows readers the devastating consequences of the current flawed approach. She proposes a simple solution that embraces a good and ethical system of governance - a system that Canadians should insist on and Canada's lawmakers and research funders should wholeheartedly adopt.

Review Quotes

Ethics on Trial is a story that needed to be told. For more than a quarter-century, efforts to strengthen the protection of human research participants in Canada have been repeatedly stymied - leaving a flawed system in place. It's a regretful and shameful reality.

Drawing on her own records and those of federal agencies, Parente reveals how Canada's human research protection regime remains disjointed, fractious, and prone to territorialism-often at the expense of those who offer their time and bodies to research intended to benefit us all. In a time of growing public distrust in science, the need for a rigorous and robust accreditation system is critical. Ethics on Trial is just such a plea.

About the Author

Janice E. Parente has, for over thirty years, been one of Canada's leading advocates for the rights, safety, and welfare of human research participants. Janice holds a degree in biochemistry from McMaster University and a PhD in medicine from the University of Alberta. Janice lives in the Laurentian region of Quebec.