For existing scheme members you will only need to undertake this consent process once.

"I'm pretty convinced that we should go the extra mile to have a good and complex consent process," he told me.

For 9 of the 18 patients, the agency said, "the consent process was not well documented."

Investigators must facilitate the informed consent process by promoting open and free communication with the study participants.

And studies show that patients often do not take an interest in the informed consent process.

And ethicists generally agree that mind reading is not a requirement of the informed consent process.

Some programs use a second informed consent process prior to disclosure to the individual of his or her genetic test results.

Such information "is an essential part of the informed consent process," the group said.

However, mining later resumed, with some protests against it during the 1987 consent process.

"Still we don't want this policy to vitiate the crucial elements of the consent process."