Fifty years ago this summer, the trial of 23 Nazi doctors and medical scientists for performing cruel and inhuman experiments on concentration-camp inmates led to the creation of the Nuremberg Code, a milestone in the history of medical ethics. The first line of the code, "The voluntary consent of the human subject is absolutely essential," is generally regarded as the sine qua non for the ethical conduct of research. During the past year, institutions throughout the United States and Europe have been sponsoring events to celebrate the Nuremberg Code as a bulwark of human decency in the pursuit of scientific knowledge.

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