Developments in the last several years have sparked renewed interest in the ethics of research involving humans. Issues relating to the global extent of research and its guiding principles are of particular importance to researchers, health officials, and individual ethics committees who want a deeper and more encompassing inquire regarding the foundation and evolution of human research. This department of CQ launches a long overdue effort to explore these wider issues. Readers are invited to submit papers to Charles MacKay, 5011 Worthington Drive, Bethesda, MD 20816, USA. E-mail: [email protected].Without intending to suggest their endorsement of my arguments, I wish to thank my colleagues in the CTRG group and two anonymous referees. This work was funded by the Canadian Institute of Health Research.

Sick: The Untold Story of America's Health Care Crisis and the People Who Pay the Price, by Jonathan Cohn. New York: HarperCollins, 2007. 302 pp. $25.95.

American healthcare reform has rather suddenly become, at least in political terms, sexy. Traditionally, healthcare has been a third rail of policymaking that few dare touch, but elected and aspiring officials at all levels are now proposing remedies to the chronic issues of the cost, quality, and, especially, lack of access to care. Not since the Clintons' well-intended but spectacularly sabotaged and unsuccessful 1994 attempt at sweeping reform has the issue been so prominently discussed.Readers are invited to contact Greg S. Loeben in writing at Midwestern University, Glendale Campus, Bioethics Program, 19555 N. 59th Ave., Glendale, AZ 85308 ([email protected]) regarding books they would like to see reviewed or books they are interested in reviewing.

(A previous version of this review appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle 10 May 2007.)

This section is meant to be a mutual effort. If you find an article you think should be abstracted in this section, do not be bashful—submit it for consideration to feature editor Kenneth V. Iserson care of CQ. If you do not like the editorial comments, this will give you an opportunity to respond in the letters section. Your input is desired and anticipated.