ABSTRACT
In the realm of biobanking, people are the source of the raw material for the discovery of genes for research, diagnosis, and therapy, raising a host of issues about rights and responsibilities, fiduciary duties and societal obligations. The California Supreme Court pointed out, "A physician who adds his own research interest to this balance may be tempted to order a scientifically useful procedure or test that offers marginal, or no, benefits to the patient." Biobanks vary in whether the biobank owner is willing to allow access by outside researchers to the tissue samples. Biobanks can be established without oversight, even without the knowledge of people whose tissues are used. The people whose tissue is used by biobanks for research and commercialization provide the raw material for an important social enterprise. Research on tissue from people from certain ethnic or religious groups may disturb other members of that group, including relatives of the people whose tissues were used for research.
