Common Rule, The

In 1979, the National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical [Page 405]and Behavioral Research published the Belmont Report. The document establishes ethical principles for research involving human subjects in biomedical and behavioral research within the United States. These regulations came into effect in 1981. In that year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) revised federal regulations current at the time covering human subjects research, in order to make them compatible with the contents of the Belmont Report. The Belmont Report, then, summarizes the basic ethical principles identified by the national commission after days of deliberation. In addition, the commission recommended that the Belmont Report be adopted in its entirety by the ...