Plagiarism is the use of published and unpublished ideas or the intellectual property of others without attribution or permission and the presentation as new and original and not derived from an existing source. [13] Tools such as the similarity test[14] are available to help researchers identify similarities between manuscripts and such checks should be performed prior to submission. [15] Divide data from a single research process into different pieces, create individual manuscripts from each piece to artificially increase the volume of publication. [16] Ethics in the context of neuromodulation goes far beyond what Aristotle would have recognized as classical ethical issues in his time, said Hank Greely. When it comes to neuromodulation, the issue includes ethical, legal, social and even political implications, in fact all things in society that influence the use and potential misuse of these devices now and in the future. For example, Alvaro Pascual-Leone mentioned the reality that off-label use of neurostimulation is increasing rapidly, without full investigation or understanding of the effects on safety and efficacy. Patients manufacture devices, purchase equipment, and bring clinicians to health behaviour researchers and practitioners, and health education may play a central role in integrating toxicogenomics into practice to improve public health (e.g., Sorenson and Cheuvront 1993; C. Wang et al. 2005). Priority areas ripe for further research, understanding, and applications include: (1) public and provider education on genetic information, (2) risk communication and behavior change interventions, (3) sociological consequences of genetic testing, and (4) public health insurance and advocacy. An environmental perspective should be considered when considering education and communication issues associated with the application of toxicogenomics to reduce health risks.

Many types of stakeholders and practitioners should be considered and, therefore, many levels of intervention and analysis should be sought. The Human Genome Project (HGP) was completed in 2003. One of the main areas of research was ethical, legal and social issues (ELSI). On this page you will find more information about this search. Biological repositories are repositories of human biological materials collected for research purposes. According to the most recent and frequently cited estimate, more than 300 million specimens are stored in the United States, and this number is increasing by 20 million per year (Eiseman and Haga, 1999). As access to a large number of well-characterized and annotated samples is an essential component of new genomics research strategies (see Chapter 10), biological deposits are becoming increasingly important (Andrews, 2005; Clayton, 2005; Deschênes and Sallée, 2005; January 2005; Knoppers, 2005; Majumder, 2005; Malinowski, 2005; Palmer, 2005; Rothstein, 2005b). While biodeposits raise many research ethics and social policy issues, three topics are of particular importance to toxicogenomics, pharmacogenomics and related research. Informed consent may be obtained from a legally authorized representative if a potential research participant is unable to give informed consent[4] (children, mental disability).

The participation of these populations must be conditional on their being able to benefit from the results of the research. [4] The « legal representative » can be a spouse, close relative, parent, power of attorney or legal guardian. The hierarchical hierarchy of priorities of the representative may vary from country to country and region within the same country; Local guidelines should therefore be consulted. These four research areas overlap and many research projects are likely to address cross-cutting issues. A more detailed discussion of the different research areas and examples of possible research topics can be found under ELSI Research Areas. Another way to set research priorities is to focus on the type of harm to be prevented. It has been argued that a disproportionate proportion of health resources (research and treatment) are directed to specific diseases, simply because of the effectiveness of stakeholders working on behalf of those affected (Greenberg 2001). Similarly, environmental policy may be influenced by the fact that some environmental risks are considered to be of greater societal importance than others.

For example, it has been argued that the U.S. environmental policy is deficient because we spend millions of dollars on relatively few Superfund sites that need to be rehabilitated, but insufficient sums for air and water pollution, which poses a broader threat to public health (Breyer 1995). There is no doubt that the objectives of toxicogenomic research are influenced by various social factors, and that priority setting is influenced by economic and political concerns. An important « upstream » question that needs to be addressed specifically in the context of toxicogenomic and pharmacogenomic research is whether a policy of « open access » to raw samples and data should be pursued and, if so, to what extent it would work and to what extent it would work. Traditionally, toxicological and pharmaceutical research has been conducted in closed access, with private companies retaining sole control of their research until a patent has been filed or a company has decided to disclose information for some other reason. However, there is growing pressure to make preliminary data from government-funded research (and even some privately funded research) more widely available to researchers in general. For example, the Human Genome Project (public), the Pharmacogenetics Research Network (public) and the SNP consortium (private) have adopted a policy of making research results available online in a timely manner for other researchers to use. The Belmont Report was prepared by the National Commission in 1979. This report summarizes the guidelines and ethical principles used in research. The three main principles set out in this report include respect for persons, charity and justice, as summarized in the infographic. Respect for people promotes autonomy and that people with limited autonomy must also be protected. Informed consent is an application of respect for people that lets people know what will happen during research.

Charity is the principle that ensures that benefits are to be maximized and harms minimized in research.