Dear colleagues,
It is never a naive question that you asked dear Dr Isabelle. First thought, I think the fear from transferring samples from one country to another is based on the cultural perception of "conspiracy theory". That means fear that the other country might develop weapons or drugs that might destroy the home country. This is by far fictional. In a deeper thought, it maybe due to the fear of exploitation. I mean, as usual is the case, samples would be transferred from less developed countries to developed ones for research, which may cause unfair distribution between risks and benefits if for example the developed country could invent a new drug based on the research. Again, this can be argued as research is open for everyone who has got the will and power. Third there is this incident of stigmatization of a particular community if the results showed genetic susceptibility to some disease or behavior. The very famous examples are Ashkenazi Jews in all medical books, and Native Americans.
Thus, a Membrane Transfer Agreement is important in negotiating different aspects like the fair distribution of benefits, protection of confidentiality and the fate of the samples after the research. If it is technically impossible to brings all the labs to the donor country, it is not at all unethical to send the samples abroad. 
Kindest regards,
Mohamed
Sent: Thursday, March 19, 2009 8:44 PM
Subject: [EGYPTIAN_RECS] Still review of multi-site research
Dear members
Thank you very much for the discussions over the last two weeks. I would like to ask you what do you think about including in addition to the original protocol of the sponsor, an adendum detailing such information as:
- Who will be study team members in the local site
- Where and how are the participants to be recruited
- Description of the population targeted and their vulnerabilities, if applicable
- Description of the study site
In other words, a summary of the protocol pertaining to the local site in what concern the specific details only.
Also, would you like to see a copy of the sponsor's approval and that of other IRBs of the protocol?
As for the topic of relying of one IRB on the review of another one, I could sense that the members agree that this is an idea to consider, but in the future, and not for the time being.
The material transfer agreement was mentioned during the discussions, and the field is open to discuss it now!
I have another related question to raise that might appear naive, but we need to think about it deeper:
Why do we fear the transfer of samples from one country to the other?
Hoping to hear from all of you, best wishes for a happy weekend,
Isabelle
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