Commentary: Physicians and the Risk of Malevolent Use of Research

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Although research findings have always been subject to abuse, scientific advances and recent events have increased concern about the perils of some biomedical knowledge. The Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs (CEJA) addresses this potential in its guidelines for physician–researchers (PRs). The guidelines do not advance many novel ideas or provide substantive guidance for PRs. Advocacy for professionalism, weighing costs and benefits, and balanced oversight are uncontroversial and have been proposed before. The difficult task is to define what they require, and here the guidelines are vague. We discuss critically two issues that deserve careful attention.Authors contributed equally to this work. The views expressed herein are the authors' own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Institutes of Health, U.S. Public Health Service, or the Department of Health and Human Services.