RCS earns Canadian IRB approval

Research & Clinical Science (RCS), the private sector research  company engaged in a global data-collection project to determine the  effect of subluxations, and chiropractic adjustments, on human health, has  received full approval by a Canadian  Institutional Review Board (IRB, also known in Canada as a Research Ethics  Board). The approval clears the way for doctors of chiropractic throughout Canada to participate in  the project.

The IRB approval is required for any scientific research study involving  human subjects and involves a complete scrutiny of all aspects of the  research protocols and ethical standards. The RCS program had previously  won approval from an IRB in the US.

In addition to the program itself, all field doctors who join RCS must be  approved by an IRB  and receive extensive training in order to qualify as  RCS Authorized Clinical Investigators. Such stringent prerequisites were  deemed essential in order to maintain the highest caliber of  professionalism among all RCS doctors.

The Canadian IRB that reviewed and approved the RCS research protocol is  made up of scientists and medical researchers, many of whom hold  high-level positions in Canadian hospitals and colleges. In addition, a  PhD ethicist serves on the panel.

As part of an IRB review, all forms and documents associated with the RCS  program -- including human subjects consent forms, volunteer recruitment  ads, etc. -- were carefully examined and approved for both adults and  children. The IRB and RCS permits its participating doctors to use only  the approved forms it provides.

"This approval is extremely important to us," stated RCS President Robert  Blanks, PhD, noted for his landmark chiropractic study on chiropractic's  impact on self-reported wellness and quality of life.  "RCS intends to  compile structured clinical data sets on hundreds of thousands of people  in all parts of the world, analyze and publish these results in  peer-reviewed journals in order to support the evidence-based scientific  rationale behind chiropractic care.  produce incontrovertible evidence  about the effect of chiropractic care."

Canadian doctors, who had been placed on a waiting list pending the  approval, may now participate fully in the RCS program, Dr. Blanks added.

The RCS program has come under fire from some critics, many of whom appear  to want to suppress clinical research on subluxation corrective care.

"There are many people who feel threatened by the possibility of  demonstrating, through carefully planned and executed research protocols,  that subluxations have a detrimental effect on health and that drug-free  chiropractic care to detect and correct those subluxations may be a major  key to health and wellness," Blanks said. "Sadly, some of these people are  actually in the chiropractic profession itself. Many of these individuals  don't even like using the word 'subluxation,' let alone conducting a  global clinical study on them."

Criticism has also been leveled at RCS because it charges doctors a fee to  participate in the program, although private funding is common in medical  research.

"We don't have drug companies or the government giving us millions of  dollars to produce this type of study," explained RCS Vice President  Matthew McCoy, DC, editor of the Journal of Vertebral Subluxation  Research. "For more than a century, we've waited in vain for funding.  If we want true chiropractic research, we have to pay for it ourselves.  It's ironic that none of the doctors who join have complained about the  fee. Only those who don't want doctors to join seem to have a problem with  the concept."