The incoming head of an international physicians' association says excessive experiments involving human subjects should be curbed amid the growing range of experiments in this age of advanced medical science.
Eitaka Tsuboi, who will assume the presidency of the World Medical Association during its general assembly this week in Edinburgh, Scotland, said revision of the 1964 WMA Declaration of Helsinki for protection of trial subjects is necessary to strengthen the informed consent system and control various kinds of experiments to protect the rights of human subjects.
Tsuboi, head of the Japan Medical Association, indicated in an interview with Kyodo News that the declaration should be changed to cover experiments that are conducted by nondoctors and aimed at analysis of genetic information and purposes other than medical treatment.