Federal regulations (45 CFR 46) created IRBs to protect the rights and welfare of human research participants. Like overprotective parents whose short-term precautions have the unintended long-term consequence of depriving their children of the opportunity to develop skills necessary to be independent adults, IRBs are complicit in the creation of health inequities when their disapproval of studies systematically prevent some communities from having the opportunity to receive the benefits of research.
