Historical Overview

In 1953, the United States (US) established a federal funding requirement for institutional review by an independent committee of proposed research projects involving humans. This rule was limited to research conducted directly within the facilities of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) at Bethesda, Maryland, USA.

Yet, the lay membership on these committees showed that biomedical research is an activity of public interest and the public has important views to share on its ethical aspects.