Cardinal G
Centre de recherche en droit public, Université de Montréal.
Health Law J. 1999;7:35-48, 33.
Canada has recently seen significant commercial growth in biotechnology; at the same time we have witnessed a considerable reduction in public funding for research. One result is the development of partnerships between academic institutions and industry, which has had important effects on the relationships between researchers, companies, research subjects and society, particularly in the field of genetics. Commercialization of research creates obstacles to the diffusion of research results which is fundamental to the advancement of science. Several recent studies and cases, which are briefly reviewed here, have highlighted these problems. In this paper, the author examines clauses in research contracts in order to analyze and categorize the types of provisions these contracts may contain regarding publication and disclosure of research results. She then discusses the relationships between various actors in genetic research and the issues and conflicts that may arise. Finally, an examination of some recently developed policies in this area reveals the complex network of norms to which a researcher must adhere. The normative framework must take into account the interests of all the various actors, should apply to the broadest possible population, and its various parts must be consistent. Researchers must then be vigilant that they do not enter into contracts which conflict with their rights and obligations regarding publication and dissemination of results.
加拿大近期在生物技术领域实现了显著的商业增长；与此同时，我们也目睹了公共研究资金的大幅削减。结果之一是学术机构与产业界之间建立了合作关系，这对研究人员、公司、研究对象和社会之间的关系产生了重要影响，尤其是在遗传学领域。研究的商业化给研究成果的传播造成了障碍，而研究成果的传播是科学进步的基础。本文简要回顾了几项近期的研究和案例，凸显了这些问题。在本文中，作者审视了研究合同中的条款，以便分析和归类这些合同可能包含的关于研究成果发表和披露的条款类型。接着，她讨论了基因研究中各行为主体之间的关系以及可能出现的问题和冲突。最后，对该领域近期制定的一些政策的审视揭示了研究人员必须遵守的复杂规范网络。规范框架必须考虑到所有不同行为主体的利益，应适用于尽可能广泛的人群，并且其各个部分必须保持一致。研究人员必须保持警惕，避免签订与他们在研究成果发表和传播方面的权利和义务相冲突的合同。
