Natural Clinical Trials - IRB Services

Natural Clinical Trials Network
www.NaturalClinicalTrials.net
Institutional Review Board Services
Natural Solutions Center
PO Box 96 Volcan, Panama.

Rima E. Laibow, MD - 973-241-4386
Robert Goodman, PhD - 718-547-4165
Ralph Fucetola JD - 973-300-4594

IRB Services Offered Through the Network

WHY DO YOU NEED THE SERVICES
OF AN INSTITUTIONAL REVIEW BOARD?

Experimentation on human beings has long been a touchy subject, at first in works of fiction such as "Frankenstein" and "Wozzeck". But when actual abuses of human experimentation came to light in the 20th Century, the reaction was to form bodies to oversee such work to prevent the recurrence of such horrors as when information on and treatment of their cases was deliberately withheld from a group of syphilis patients. These oversight bodies, originally called human research committees, have come to be called institutional review boards or IRBs.

You know you wouldn't experiment on persons without their consent, violate their privacy, or otherwise abuse them as research subjects. However, how can anybody else be sure you don't? For that reason, government authorities and scientific journals require IRB oversight of those who submit the results of research using human subjects; otherwise the submission will not be accepted. In cases of research done by licensed practitioners, where the work cannot be said to be a routine part of service to patients or clients who are the subject of research, licensing boards will want the OK from an IRB as well. Even in cases where it appears the researchers aren't doing anything to the subjects -- for instance, research based on results of psychologic questionnaires or studies based exclusively on questioning persons about their past medical problems, or examination of specimens that are already being taken from patients -- the authority in question may want the assurance from an IRB that oversight of that study is not necessary.

The IRB's oversight is supposed to be independent of the researchers themselves. Most IRBs are, as the name implies, attached to an institution, such as a university or teaching and research hospital. Such an organization is big enough that they can afford to employ as part time overseers people who are knowledgeable about the types of research going on, yet not directly involved in that particular study. But if you don't have 5 people who are qualified to understand, pre-approve, and oversee your research, while being independent of the study itself, yet you are required to have an IRB's approval to submit your results, where can you turn?

The Natural Solutions Foundation has an IRB whose services can be made available to satisfy your needs. We are located in New York, New Jersey and Panama, and can arrange for liaison elsewhere. Our board members' bios are on this web site. We are sensitive to the needs of small oganizations.

Please email us via Dr. Goodman at robgood@bestweb.net with your needs and we will respond with a quote.

© 2011 /v.09.23.11 -