Ethics Live!    @CIHR Fall 2006 - Number 5

A Season of Consultations: Engaging Your Voice in the Evolution of the TCPS

The Interagency Advisory Panel and Secretariat on Research Ethics (PRE/SRE) have been holding consultations to engage the community in developing potential amendments to the Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans (TCPS). Two consultations have been conducted in the winter-spring of 2006. Others are forthcoming.

One upcoming consultation, in fall 2006, is on The Duty to Share Information in Clinical Trials: Working Recommendations for the TCPS.

As Derek J. Jones, Executive Director of SRE explains:

"The consultation will address how the TCPS should address certain dimensions of non-disclosure of research data and results in clinical trials for heightened transparency, in particular as concerns agreements between clinical researchers and pharmaceutical companies which place restrictions on the publication or sharing of new information with participants, research ethics boards and other implicated parties."

Initial consultations on Reconsidering Privacy and Confidentiality in the TCPS and on Refining the Proportionate Approach to Research Ethics Review in the TCPS have been completed. These consultations addressed important substantive, procedural and definitional issues with the TCPS. Analysis of the feedback is presently ongoing, and will inform PRE's recommendations on key sections of the TCPS.

"Consistent with the public process principles that it has adopted, PRE seeks to hear from diverse voices, expertise, and views in the research ethics community on ideas and policy options for improving and updating the TCPS," Mr. Jones emphasizes.

PRE advises CIHR, as well as the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, on the evolution and use of their joint research ethics policy, the TCPS.

Through its Season of Consultations, PRE invites the community to submit written commentary to help shape the future of the TCPS. Such consultations typically feature analysis, proposals and questions from PRE's interdisciplinary Working Committees in discussion documents that outline potential changes to the TCPS.

As Mr. Jones also notes: "The consultations are intended to provide those who use the TCPS with a reasonable opportunity to be heard. The opportunity is complemented by other avenues of community engagement. We also hold roundtables or workshops, conferences and targeted technical mini-consultations, to engage the TCPS-user community."

For further information on PRE's Season of Consultations, please visit PRE online or contact Michèle Bourgeois-Doyle at (613) 996-2569.

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