Review of existing issues, ethics and practices in general medical research and in radiation protection research.

A literature review was carried out in relation to general medical research and radiation protection research. A large number of documents were found concerning the subject of ethics in general medical research. For radiation protection research, the number of documents and the information available is very limited. A review of practices in 13 European countries concerning general medical research and radiation protection research was carried out by sending a questionnaire to each country. It was found that all countries reviewed were well regulated for general medical research. For research that involves ionising radiation, the UK and Ireland are by far the most regulated countries. For other countries, there does not seem to be much information available. From the literature review and the review of practices, a number of existing ethical issues were identified and exposed, and a number of conclusions were drawn.