Ethical, Legal, and Technical Issues of Biohistorical Research

科学技术的进步为学者和机构提供了对历史人物和历史文物进行研究的新手段。医学和法医学中常用的生物分析技术，如DNA测试或生化分析，现在正被应用于回答历史问题。最近对科学家阿尔伯特·爱因斯坦、探险家梅里韦瑟·刘易斯以及乔治·华盛顿、托马斯·杰斐逊和亚伯拉罕·林肯总统进行生物历史调查的提议引发了科学、历史、伦理和法律方面的争议。伊利诺伊理工学院的科学、法律和技术研究所(ISLAT)和芝加哥历史学会(CHS)协调了一项合作调查，为新兴的生物历史研究领域制定伦理指导方针。该项目促进了生物伦理学、科学、法律、社会科学、历史和博物馆学专家之间的跨学科学术伙伴关系。研究人员调查了生物分析被使用以及可能在历史背景下使用的原因，以及生物分析引发的科学、法律、伦理和社会关切。该项目审查了适用于历史学家、人类学家、博物馆馆长、调查研究人员、流行病学家、病理学家、遗传学家、法医科学家、考古学家和社会学家的专业组织的现有指导方针。他们还分析了伦理和法律先例，如管理知情同意、隐私、尊重死者、博物馆馆长的职责、获取历史人物信息、捐赠者与博物馆之间的合同以及获取身体组织的先例。在这项研究的基础上，将制定用于生物历史分析的伦理指南，用于历史上有价值的人物的组织样本(如头发、血液或骨骼)。这样的指导方针对遗传学家、化学家、法医科学家和其他被要求测试这种人工制品的人很有用；对基金会、政府机构和其他被要求资助这种分析的人也很有用。指南草案将张贴在芝加哥历史学会的网站上，提交给专业组织征求书面意见，并在选定的会议上提交讨论。主要调查员将把这一综合反馈纳入准则的最后草案，并将在各种学术和专业期刊上发表。

Advances in science and technology give scholars and institutions new means of undertaking research on historical figures and historical artifacts. Techniques of bio-analysis commonly used in medicine and forensics, such as DNA testing or biochemical assays, are now being applied to answer historical questions. Recent proposals for bio-historical investigations of scientist Albert Einstein, explorer Meriwether Lewis, and presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Abraham Lincoln have generated scientific, historical, ethical, and legal controversies. The Institute for Science, Law, and Technology (ISLAT) at the Illinois Institute of Technology and the Chicago Historical Society (CHS) coordinate a collaborative investigation to develop ethical guidelines for the emerging field of bio-historical research. The project fosters interdisciplinary academic partnerships between specialists in bioethics, science, law, social science, history, and museology. The researchers investigate the reasons bio-analysis has been used, and might be used in the historical context, and the scientific, legal, ethical and social concerns raised by bio-analysis. The project examines pplicable existing guidelines for professional organizations of historians, anthropologists, museum curators, survey researchers, epidemiologists, pathologists, geneticists, forensic scientists, archeologists, and sociologists. They also analyze ethical and legal precedents such as those governing informed consent, privacy, respect for the dead, duties of museum curators, access to information about historical figures, contracts between donors and museums, and access to body tissue. Building on this research, ethical guidelines for bio-historical analysis will be developed for use on tissue samples (such as hair, blood, or bones) from figures of historical interest. Such guidelines are useful to geneticists, chemists, forensic scientists, and others who are requested to test such artifacts; and to foundations, government agencies, and others asked to fund such analyses. The draft guidelines will be posted on the Chicago Historical Society's Internet site, submitted to professional organizations for written comments, and presented at selected conferences for discussion. The principal investigators will incorporate this comprehensive feedback in the final draft of the guidelines that will be published in various academic and professional journals.