[The ethical implications of conserving biological samples].

The conservation and use of biological samples become more and more frequent all around the world. Biobanks of human body substances (blood, urine, DNA, tissues, cells, etc.), and personal data associated with them are created. They have a double character as they are collections of both human biological samples and personal data. In some cases, the gametes, reproductive tissues, embryos, foetal tissue after abortion or even specimens of dead donors are collected and conserved. Although biobanks raise hopes in both the development of new therapies, new drugs and their integration into clinical medicine, they also point to concerns related to ethical questions such as: the principles of information, the consent of the persons concerned, the confidentiality about the personal data, and in some cases discrimination and stigmatisation. Other ethical aspects could raise gradually as research advance. Research being carried out on human sample requires informed free consent from the person who should be able to consent. The donor must be sufficiently informed about the process of research, the purpose, benefits and the risks involved in participating in this research. In the case of persons unable to give consent such minors or persons with mental disabilities, special measures are undertaken. Once the consent was given, the right of withdrawal has been consistently supported by the various declarations and regulations, but some oppose this right for a number of reasons particularly in the case of research on the samples without risk of physical exposure. In this case the notion of human body integrity is different than in research involving therapeutic or clinical intervention. In the case of withdrawal of consent, the samples should be destroyed, but the anonymous results arising from them and their analysis are not affected. What is the case for future uses? Should the researcher obtain again the consent from the donor for a secondary use of the samples? This is a matter of debate in the public and scientific communities. In Morocco, research activities on humans are undertaken in the absence of legal framework. Among the ethical issues, the most frequent in Morocco are related to the informed and explicit consent. Illiteracy, which concerns half of the population, and the economic vulnerability of the largest proportion of the patient make the informed and explicit consent questionable. In this paper we aimed to describe the use and conservation of human biological samples in Morocco and to determine the ethical questions raised in this context. An anonymous questionnaire was sent to biologists working in the different laboratories. The response rate was only 59.2%. The human biological samples are generally used for diagnosis and clinical follow-up. The storage period ranged from 3 months to 1 year, it does not exceed one year. The percentage of conservation of biological samples in the laboratory for one year is 67% and no basic criterion is maintained in the selection of samples. All laboratories obtained their samples directly from patients; no exchange or duplicate samples were undertaken between institutions. The analyses performed on the stored samples are biochemical and immunological. The genetic analyses accounted for only 35% of the total samples. The laboratories involved a researcy activity accounted for only 13.6%. Some of them answered they had not obtained in a systematic manner the consent of the persons concerned. These results indicated a lack of information and guidance on bioethics in Morocco.