Consent critical to building public support for biobanks?

Aug. 10, 2011 - PRLog -- Ever-increasing demand for personalised medicine has enhanced the global requirement for biobanks to provide human tissue, body fluids and their derivatives. Between the two distinct types of biobank, those which primarily support healthcare and those which boost clinical research, there are major similarities in terms of the philosophical issues that restrict their everyday activities. In order to ensure sustained viability in the future, these repositories must comply with ethical and regulatory standards, as well as winning the support and trust of the public they so greatly rely on for progress.

Regardless of whether it is blood, saliva or leftover tissue from a surgical procedure, samples collected for future research are frequently linked to personal health information relating to the donor. Researchers who want to make use of these samples face important questions about whether permission is necessary and exactly how consent should be obtained. In a recent study, scientists made a number of observations that suggested communication and trust between biobanks and the public needed to be improved.

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