Group of activists raise ethical, safety concerns about ICMR document on Controlled Human Infection Studies

Before embarking upon controlled human infection studies, the government must ensure that there is a public discussion with regard to this, and must also ensure that people are protected against unfortunate results, a group of activists has said. The group that includes an advocate, an independent journalist, an independent researcher and other activists, submitted its comments on the Controlled Human Infection Studies consensus policy statement that the Indian Council of Medical Research has released recently. In a 15-page statement, group has also said that the proposed guidelines or statements must offer opportunities to all people to air their views on this subject. The ICMR statement should describe a “knowledge threshold” so that healthy participants in the drug trial are not exposed to something about which the researchers do not have adequate knowledge, the group’s statement said.