Evidence of support for biobanking practices

doi:10.1136/bmj.a337

Published 10 July 2008, doi:10.1136/bmj.a337
Cite this as: BMJ 2008;337:a337

Editorials

Evidence of support for biobanking practices

Lack of dissent in opt-in mechanisms does not necessarily supporta move to opt-out

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

In the linked study, Johnsson and colleagues report levels ofdissent in Swedish patients who are asked about storage andfuture research use of samples collected during health care.¹Only 0.14% of patients dissented to either storage or use oftheir samples, and 0.063% confirmed their decision by completinga dissent form.

The authors conclude that their survey provides evidence ofhigh levels of trust in the Swedish system, and although thismight not translate to other countries or contexts, it may supporta move to opt-out systems of regulatory governance. Althoughthe study concerns samples rather than data derived from them,the research value of samples lies in the generalisable datathat they can generate, so questions about control of informationand access to it are crucial. The suggestion that lack of dissentin an explicit consent system (opt-in) may support a move topresumed consent (opt-out) requires close . . . [Full text of this article]

Graeme Laurie, professor of medical jurisprudence

¹ School of Law, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH8 9YL

Graeme.Laurie@ed.ac.uk

CiteULike

Complore

Connotea

Del.icio.us Add to Digg

Digg

StumbleUpon Add to Technorati

Technorati What's this?

Relevant Articles

Opt-out from biobanks better respects patients’ autonomy: Linus Johnsson, Mats G Hansson, Stefan Eriksson, and Gert Helgesson
BMJ 2008 337: a1580. [Extract] [Full Text]

Patients’ refusal to consent to storage and use of samples in Swedish biobanks: cross sectional study: Linus Johnsson, Mats G Hansson, Stefan Eriksson, and Gert Helgesson
BMJ 2008 337: a345. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Iceland's database is ethically questionable: Bogi Andersen and Einar Arnason
BMJ 1999 318: 1565. [Full Text]

This article has been cited by other articles:

Johnsson, L., Hansson, M. G, Eriksson, S., Helgesson, G. (2008). Opt-out from biobanks better respects patients' autonomy. BMJ 337: a1580-a1580 [Full text]