The Trend Towards the Commercialization of Human Body Parts and of Privacy in Research with Biological Samples and Data (Big and Small)

Abstract

Human subject research has to be assessed by independent multidisciplinary ethics committees in order to guarantee its quality and respect for the rights and interests of the people involved and taking part. As a member of two Research Ethics Committees (REC) I have witnessed the growing trend towards the commercialization of biological samples of human origin and of personal data. Human body parts (biological samples included) and personal data (and therefore privacy) are monetized in a society that has opted for scientific and technological research in order to stimulate economic and social progress. Research and scientific and technological applications are news almost every day in the media, including economics supplements, which have lately been describing the impact of digitization on business, the advantages of big data analysis and the successes of Iberian biotech companies. I consider that practices in research associated with biological samples of human origin stored in biobanks, and the personal data flows in research with public big data, might occasionally not fulfil the established objectives, supposedly addressed to the common good and the public interest.