The new 2013 seventh version of the Declaration of Helsinki – more old wine in a new bottle?

Abstract

The eagerly awaited seventh version of the Declaration of Helsinki (DoH) was released by the World Medical Assembly (WMA) on October 19, 2013 at the 64th General Assembly. It has been 13 years since the most debated version of the DoH, the fifth one, was released in 2000, followed by two related notifications in 2002 and 2004 and the less debated sixth version of 2008. The decade following the fifth version has witnessed many conceptual changes and debates all over the world. Of special note is the fact that most research participants are drawn from the developing countries and are considered to have a higher degree of vulnerability than their counterparts in the developed countries. Since 2000, a landmark year from many perspectives, national and international ethical guidelines have been updated or new ones developed to address the current and emerging issues facing the research community.