¿La tiranía de los comités de ética en investigación (CEI) es una realidad?

Purpose/Context. This article analyzes the role that ethics and research committees should play in protecting volunteers who participate in studies, without forgetting their functions of promoting research and generating knowledge as a social responsibility, which over time has become distorted. Methodology/Approach. A review was made of the evolution of research ethics, which arose as a response to bad practices that violated human dignity, which forced to rethink the way of doing research, with the appearance of international standards, recommendations and legal regulations that promoted informed consent and the creation of research ethics committees (REC).Results/Findings. As part of the sequence of analysis, it is shown how these bodies have become important nowadays, to the point that in many places on the planet research cannot be done without the approval of the committees. This is in favor of the research subjects, but with mismanagement and an inadequate exercise of power, they can slow down research, with an exercise of tyranny on the part of the IRBs. Discussion/Conclusions/Contributions. This analysis is supported by the global bioethics of ten Have, which takes into account the responsibility and duty of research as a global and intergenerational issue, which we must exercise as citizens of the world.