CIRCARE Public Comment. Susko MA. Secretary's Advisory Committee on Human Research Protection. 2005

C I R C A R ECitizens for Responsible Care and Research 24 Indian Lane 410-499-4895 Baltimore MD 21210 www.circare.org 2005-04-18 My name is Michael Susko and I’m President of CIRCARE, the oldest nonprofit advocacy organization dedicated to the protection of human subjects in research. First let me express our appreciation and thanks for the hard work the committee has done over the past three years. A lot of this work is performed selflessly and with great dignity. We would, however, like to call attention to some important gaps in the process of your deliberations. We have requested in writing that research subjects’ perspectives be included in your deliberations, but to no avail. We have chosen this public forum as a last resort. The Secretary’s Advisory Committee on Human Research Protection is addressing some of the most important issues concerning human subject protections; the committee’s recommendations will have an immense impact on federal policy governing the safety and well-being of human subjects in research. As you know, millions of human subjects participate in research experiments each year. This means that millions of our citizens and their families are affected by the conduct of research, The reason we are able to do research is because of the generosity and altruism of our citizens and their families. The human subjects and their families are the most precious part of this enterprise. Research participants may pay a price for ...