Subject:   Announcement of CIRCARE's Activities
Date:   2002-04-26

CIRCARE, Citizens for Responsible Care and Research, is the first human rights organization in the U.S. dedicated to insuring the protection of persons who are experimental subjects in scientific research. CIRCARE has been very active, testifying in legislation on the state and the national level; reports will be forthcoming.

We begin with our basic Mission Statement recently drafted and approved by the board.

Citizens For Responsible Care and Research (CIRCARE)
Mission Statement (Approved April 17, 2002)

CIRCARE is a human rights organization dedicated to the protection of human subjects in research and medical treatment.

CIRCARE's mission is to raise the ethical and professional level of human subject research and medical treatment to a level that is compatible with the principles stated in the National Human Research Protections Act (NHRPA). Support for the enactment of the NHRPA is one of the most important missions of CIRCARE advocacy.

CIRCARE is particularly concerned with the protection of vulnerable subjects, i.e., the mentally incapacitated, children, seniors, the homeless, and the poor.

By raising public awareness of human subject vulnerability in research and treatment, CIRCARE works to prevent unethical practices. CIRCARE believes that good science and clinical practice are compatible with sound ethical principles that respect the rights and dignity of human subjects.

To accomplish its mission, CIRCARE works with the public, the Congress, and representatives of research funding agencies to increase overview and accountability of organizations (i.e. research institutions, hospitals, etc.) involved with human subject research. By establishing a dialogue with the public and the scientific community, CIRCARE hopes to advance the ethical principles used in human subject research. This is accomplished through public policy statements, testimony at public hearings, a web site, and periodic publications.

Of particular concern to CIRCARE is the fact that federal guidelines do not apply to privately funded research (except for drug applications to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)), thus creating a two-tiered system of human subject research standards and safeguards. The often highly complex and technical nature of biomedical research and medical treatment of human subjects also impedes understanding of the ethical implications of rapidly advancing fields.

Specific Goals Are To:

1. Raise public awareness of human rights violations in research via publications and a web site.
2. Enlist public support to eliminate unethical research involving human subjects.
3. Work with public agencies to ensure that adequate safeguards are provided to human research subjects whether vulnerable or not under existing federal guidelines.
4. Work to improve human subject protection where federal guidelines may not be adequate.
5. Work to ensure that research organizations, both public and private, are fully accountable for their investigative procedures and treatment of subjects and that unfavorable data are not withheld from public scrutiny.
6. Work to ensure that no coercive conditions are established when human subjects are recruited for a study such as:
   1. Exploiting altruistic motives for participating in the research
   2. Offers of financial or medical benefits to the subjects
   3. Persuasion through potential direct medical benefits from the experimental treatment.
7. Work to ensure that research organizations provide fully comprehensible and honest representation of their research protocols and potential health effects on their research subjects, and that the subjects (or their proxies) sign a consent form to participate in the research with a full understanding of the protocol.
8. Work to ensure that research organizations establish fully and adequately staffed oversight committees (Institutional Review Boards) to safeguard the rights and interests of the research subjects.

Michael A. Susko MS, CIRCARE President
(410) 499-4895

Adil Shamoo Ph.D., CIRCARE Co-Founder
(410) 706-3327

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Last Updated: 2006-03-04

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