The National Health and Medical Research Council and ethical regulation--a short history.

This is the first of three contributions in this Issue dealing with legal and ethical aspects of medical research. The NH & MRC's ethical guidelines acquire legal status as part of the contractual conditions between the NH & MRC and recipients of research funding. New policies adopted by the NH & MRC in November 1985 have given the NH & MRC more power to influence research ethics. This article is an edited version of the NH & MRC's recent submission to the Commonwealth Parliament Senate Select Committee on the Human Experimentation Bill 1985. The NH & MRC gratefully acknowledges the Select Committee's permission to publish this material here.