Left samples from laboratory analysis can be a major waste in medicine. At present, waste can be reused for new purposes such as medical research. In the present article, the author will discuss clinical pathology ethics in this respect(1).
1. What is good waste management? Based on clinical pathology principles, left samples from routine analysis must be kept long enough to allow re-checking. Then, waste disposal must be correctly performed and should not disturb the environment(2).
2. In using laboratory waste for further medical research, one should consider these topics:
2.1 Waste must be “real waste”, completely passed through a laboratory process and ready for disposal. In this case, the approval of an ethical committee might not be necessary if no individual, patient data are revealed(3).
2.2 Waste must be accidentally left, not intentionally left. This is a very important principle, since sometimes waste can result from excessive sample collections, which can be seen in cases when a physician tries to collect a biobank sample(4). In this case, although the patient signed a consent form from the hospital for treatment, which covers investigation, it does not mean that excessive sample collection can be performed. Informed consent seems to be an inadequate measure of public acceptance of biobank-based research(4). In addition, an ethical committee should carefully ensure that the patient was actually informed before approval.

Keywords: Waste, Laboratory, Ethics