Article

Research biobanking raises numerous ethical questions.1 This article addresses the role that the concept of human dignity might play in ethical and legal reflections on the notion of informed consent in research biobanking. Though types of biobank vary,2 for the purposes of this article a biobank is defined as a collection of ‘samples of human body material or derivatives thereof from which genetic information can be derived and which are, or can be, associated with related information concerning the participants. A research biobank is a biobank used for scientific research purposes,’3 and is distinct, therefore, from a forensic biobank. We are concerned with research biobanks in the broadest sense of the term because, regardless of whether they are population biobanks, part of clinical trials, or formed by particular disease advocacy groups, they all raise similar issues regarding the notion of informed consent.