Ethics in occupational health research.

Ethical aspects of medical research have had a high public profile in the UK lately. There has been concern, for example, about the level of information provided to participants when consenting to clinical trials; regarding the retention of organs removed at necropsy without the knowledge or permission of next of kin; and about the rights and wrongs of cloning human tissues. In general, occupational health research is less controversial. Most studies involving human subjects are observational rather than experimental, and do not entail hazardous clinical procedures. Nevertheless, diYcult ethical questions do sometimes arise, both in the design of occupational studies and in the communication and application of their findings. Moreover, the acceptability of some epidemiological methods that have been widely used in occupational health research is now being questioned. It is important that the potential consequences of abandoning or restricting such techniques are properly considered before limitations are imposed.