Bioethics: problems and prospects within a research institute

Bioethics aims to identify an ethical framework by means of a multidisciplinary debate open to the scientific community, in order to allow support to scientists involved in biomedical research. The Istituto Superiore di Sanità (Italian National Institute of Health) has recognized the need for an ethical review board to cope with the problems of different researches carried on within the Institute. An Ethics Committee, better defined as an Independent Review Board, has therefore been appointed by the Minister of Health in order to evaluate different research proposals ranging from clinical trials to non clinical biomedical research. The experience of the first Committee is described.