After the whole Surgisphere debacle, I think there's one thing that has been ignored/forgotten a bit
Both of these studies were published
without ethics approval
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Some research can be deemed to not need Ethics Committee approval but as you point out that decision is not up to the researchers or sponsors. It is up to the Ethics Committee do decide whether a full approval process is required.
Any externally funded study would defintely warrant a full review by an Ethics Committee. For example how do we know if this research wasn't funded by a pharmaceutical company that manufactures vitamins?
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