In recent years it has become apparent that researchers are able to and frequently do collect more information than they actually need to verify or disprove their current hypotheses. One such kind of information is genetic information, another is epidemiological information. A third kind is incidental disclosure of information about illegal activities. In ALL such cases the researcher must agree in advance with the IRB what is to be done with information collected but not related to the hypotheses, and therefore, unrelated to the stated (or suppressed) purpose of the research.
In some cases the kind of information obtained cannot be interpreted with current technology and expertise, but within relatively short periods becomes amenable to analysis. Researchers may in this way inadvertently collect information that will turn out to affect the employability or insurability of subjects in the future. It is not possible for the researcher or the IRB to predict when this will happen. Nevertheless, however, the privilege of using human subjects for research does not expand under the conditions of unpredictability. New research using previous collected information must be cleared by the IRB.
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