The Review Of National Population Screening Research
At some point in their life, every resident living in the Netherlands will be invited to take part in a national population health screening program. Population screening is a form of medical research involving humans who have no particular health complaints.
This research focuses on discovering new diseases, hereditary predisposition to disease, and/or risk factors that increase the risk of disease. The most well-known population screening programs are for breast cancer (in women 50-75 years of age), cervical cancer (in women 30-60 years of age), and the Guthrie test for newborn infants (the so-called heel prick test).
Population screening research is regulated by the Dutch Population Screening Act (in Dutch: Wet op de Bevolkingsonderzoek, or WBO). The WMO
does not apply to research regulated by the Dutch Population Screening Act.
"The WMO does not apply to research regulated by the Dutch Population Screening Act"
In the Netherlands, the following three categories of national population screening research require a license from the Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport (in Dutch: Volksgezondheid, Welzijn en Sport, or VWS):
- Population screening in which ionizing radiation is used (e.g., breast cancer screening);
- population screening for cancers (e.g., colon cancer); and
- population screening for severe incurable diseases or birth defects (e.g., screening newborn infants for phenylketonuria).
The Dutch Health Council (in Dutch: Gezondheidsraad) has a statutory responsibility to review permit applications that fall under the scope of the Population Screening Act. The Minister of Health, Welfare and Sport decides whether such applications are approved. For more information, visit the CCMO .nl/en/population-research" target="_blank" rel="noopener">website and the Dutch Health Council website.