Abstract
With the demise of the Department of Health and Human Services' Ethics Advisory Board in September 1980, there has been little federal review of fetal research proposals. Now fetal research is reviewed mainly at the local level by institutional review boards, and is funded primarily by the private sector. The authors summarize the pre-1980 history of the federal review and funding of fetal research, and the role of the National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects in developing research guidelines that became federal regulations in July 1975. They examine several proposed or ongoing trials in the United States involving fetuses, embryos, or pregnant women for conformity with the federal regulations' definition of minimal risk. Fletcher and Schulman warn that, without an Ethics Advisory Board, beneficial research is being curtailed and the public is being denied a voice in policy making. (KIE abstract)
