ABSTRACT
In 1998 in Canada all university research involving human subjects became governed by a single-based policy. At that time, The Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans was implemented, which extended to social sciences and humanities research, a form of ethical oversight that was already in place for medical and pharmaceutical research. The chapter introduces this logic by taking the bioethics application in the social sciences as an initial case of the bioethical relationship between law and ethics. It is an illuminating context insofar as it is on the threshold of the expansion of bioethics into non-medical domains. In order to be applicable, it was necessary to broaden the understanding of ‘life’ beyond bodily and organic manifestations. In Canada, The Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct for Research
Involving Humans established the requirement that all university research involving humans be approved by a Research Ethics Board (REB). It sets a single national standard for all research on humans and REBs are a regulatory mechanism for ensuring that research meets minimum standards of moral and legal responsibility. Similar requirements exist in a more patchwork form in the American context (Brainard 2001; Lindgren 2002; Gordon 2003). The goal of The Policy is ethical research conducted in accordance with some formal rules and review procedures that enshrine key moral principles. The applicability of the rules is based on the idea that there are moral principles common to all disciplines, such as dignity, which it is possible to identify insofar as they are common to human beings. This is indicated in the preamble of The Policy:
The Policy seeks to articulate ethical norms that transcend disciplinary boundaries. The fundamental ethical issues and principles in research involving human subjects are common across the social sciences and humanities, the natural sciences and engineering, and the health sciences. They reflect shared fundamental values that are expressed in the duties, rights, and norms of those involved in research.22
