A Problem regarding Consent to Biobanking

Abstract

Human research is crucial for the development of medical science. Also, protecting research participants is important since they have to take risks from human research for the benefits of others. One measure used for safeguarding them is informed consent. Nowadays, biobanks for human research are increasingly common. The reason is that they collect tissue samples and data that can be used repeatedly in many research studies, and so they help enhance efficiency in research conduct and increase the capabilities of research, thereby facilitating the advancement of medical science. Notwithstanding, the use of biobanks raises many questions: whether the aforementioned ‘informed consent’ can be used in biobanking, whether there should be specific regulations on consent to biobanking, and the extent to which Thai law should have a role in this area. The author has written a research paper for addressing these questions, with the main aim of investigating the way in which the regulations regarding consent approaches in biobanking should be introduced in Thailand, and then writes this article for presenting research results of that research paper. To summarize those results, this article deals with 3 issues, in accordance with key questions that are examined in that research paper. First, informed consent should not be used for recruiting biobank participants. Second, there are 5 approaches to consent in biobanking: presumed consent, blanket consent, broad consent, tiered consent and dynamic consent. Each of them has its own advantages and disadvantages. Finally, in Thailand, regulations regarding consent approaches in biobanking should separate from those in human research, and they should require broad consent as a minimum requirement and permit dynamic consent as an alternative.