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Using and abusing evidence in science and health policy

Guest editor: Prof Timothy Caulfield

This cross-journal series of articles investigates how evidence is used in a variety of health and science policy domains, specifically considering the ways in which it is has been used (or misused) and represented (or misrepresented) in relevant laws, policies and regulations, in addition to the numerous challenges and barriers to its use in policy development.

Articles published in this series were invited from delegates at the meeting "Using and Abusing Evidence in Science and Health Policy" held in Banff, Alberta on May 30th-June 1st, 2012.

The conference organizers would like to thank the following companies who supported the meeting and part-funded some publication charges: Alberta Innovates - Health Solutions, the Alberta Cancer Foundation, the Allergy Genes and Environment Network (AllerGen), the Archon Genomics X-Prize presented by Express Scripts, the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation - Prairies, NWT Region, the Cancer Stem Cell Consortium, Genome Alberta, the Interagency Advisory Panel on Research Ethics, the Stem Cell Network, the University of Alberta's Faculty of Law, and the University of Alberta's Killam Fund.

All articles have been independently prepared by the authors and have been subject to the standard peer review processes of the journals.

  3. There has been much investment in research on the ethical, legal and social issues (ELSI) associated with genetic and genomic research. This research should inform the development of the relevant policy. So fa...

    Authors: Timothy Caulfield, Subhashini Chandrasekharan, Yann Joly and Robert Cook-Deegan
    Citation: Genome Medicine 2013 5:21
    Content type: Opinion Published on:

  5. The global expansion of biobanks has led to a range of bioethical concerns related to consent, privacy, control, ownership, and disclosure. As an opportunity to engage broader audiences on these concerns, bioe...

    Authors: Matthew C Nisbet and Declan Fahy
    Citation: BMC Medical Ethics 2013 14:10
    Content type: Research article Published on:

  8. The development of Herceptin® is welcomed as a major advance in breast cancer treatment, while Myriad's development of BRACAnalysis® is a widely used diagnostic. However useful and successful this product is, its...

    Authors: A Lane Baldwin and Robert Cook-Deegan
    Citation: Genome Medicine 2013 5:8
    Content type: Open debate Published on:

  9. Obtaining a research participant’s voluntary and informed consent is the bedrock of sound ethics practice. Greater inclusion of children in research has led to questions about how paediatric consent operates i...

    Authors: Edward S Dove, Denise Avard, Lee Black and Bartha M Knoppers
    Citation: BMC Medical Ethics 2013 14:5
    Content type: Research article Published on:

  11. Stem cell (SC) therapies hold remarkable promise for many diseases, but there is a significant gulf between public expectations and the reality of progress toward clinical application. Public expectations are ...

    Authors: Tania Bubela, Matthew D Li, Mohamed Hafez, Mark Bieber and Harold Atkins
    Citation: BMC Medicine 2012 10:133
    Content type: Correspondence Published on: