Page 8 - Ethical Guidelines for Conducting Research Studies Involving Human Subjects

neighboring countries have also formulated Ethical Guidelines or putting
their efforts in development of Ethical Guidelines. Bangladesh Medical
Research Council (BMRC) updated the Guideline in 2009. However in 2013
it has been felt that it needs further updating. Present Guideline was
formulated after deliberations by groups of experts in different fields.

1.5. Definition of Ethics

The word "ethics" is derived from the Greek word "ethicos". Ethics is a
branch of Philosophy that deals with morality, moral problems and moral
judgments, in fact the whole science of moral principles. For simplicity
Ethics can be defined as a system of normal standards or values.
Standards and values may differ from country to country, society to
society.

Bioethics:

Bioethics is the understanding of right, responsibility, justices and
moral interaction in living being. It includes medical ethics,
environmental ethics and ethical, legal and social issues arising
from biotechnology. Bioethics teaches how to balance between
different benefits, risks and duties. In the 1970s it emerged as a
discipline of academic in USA due to the increasing complexity of
medical advances. Now-a-days, bioethics has gained immense
important in whole of the world due to rapid advancement in
science and technology, drastic changes in macroeconomic planning
and globalization. Furthermore, clinical decisions involving the
system of values (pluralism, moral autonomy, democracy and
human rights) which shapes the meaning of life, the meaning of

suffering, and the meaning of death which go beyond the strictly
medical horizon. In addition, biomedical field has become the place
where the various moral approaches present in our pluralistic
society are most directly confronted. The most critical situation is
an ever-increasing range of health care professionals (personalized
response to the needs of each patient) that create a new demand for
ethics in the health care system. Another important critical
situation is that the process of reordering health care systems to
cope with scarce resources. As this scarcity forces reorganization on
the basis of an analysis of the priorities, it becomes increasing vital
to determine the ethical criteria on which to base such an analysis.
Medical professionals face dilemma with advancing science and
technology along with enormous health and environmental problems.
Bioethics may make bridge between science, technology, social, cultural
and spiritual values.

BMRC ETHICAL GUIDELINE ON HUMAN SUBJECTS Page 4