Social Benefits of Human Subjects Research.

The primary ethical justification for conducting research with human subjects is to benefit society. This normative principle is stated explicitly or implied in many codes, guidelines and regulations pertaining to research with human subjects. For example, according to the Nuremberg Code, an experiment with a human subject should “be such as to yield fruitful results for the good of society” and “[t]he degree of risk to be taken should never exceed that determined by the humanitarian importance of the problem to be solved by the experiment.” 6 The CIOMS Guidelines put the matter this way: “The ethical justification of biomedical research involving human subjects is the prospect of discovering new ways of benefiting people's health.” 8 According to U.S. federal research regulations, the risks of research must be reasonable in relation to the benefits to the subjects and the knowledge that may be gained, the latter of which is generally understood as a social benefit. Federal regulations also require investigators to inform subjects about the benefits of the research to the subjects or others.