EDITOR,—The role of local research ethics committees in multicentre trials has been discussed at length in the BMJ and other journals. I understand the frustration of researchers at having to jump through so many hoops, but I sincerely hope that any central committees which do emerge reflect the practice of the best of the local committees and do not become a soft option for gaining approval for poor quality projects, either in hospital or general practice.

The ethics committee that I chair recently received a response from a major pharmaceutical company that shows scant regard for the carefully considered opinion of a local research ethics committee and a gung-ho attitude to ethics committee approval in general. The study in question was to compare antibiotics in the treatment of otitis media and chest infections in children. We …