Ethics dumping is a concept in research ethics that describes the export of unethical research practices from higher-income to lower-income settings. Ethics dumping can occur intentionally when researchers knowingly side-step restrictive regulatory regimes to undertake research abroad that would be prohibited in their home setting. It can also occur unintentionally, especially in the context of international research, if researchers lack the knowledge or ethics awareness to undertake studies appropriately in unfamiliar settings. History The term 'ethics dumping' originated with a call for funding in the European Union Horizon 2020 framework program. In December 2013, funding stream GARRI.6.2014 invited proposals to reduce the risk of ethics dumping, defined as “the exportation of research practices that would not be accepted in Europe on ethical grounds”. The European Commission describes ethics dumping within Horizon 2020 as follows: "Due to the progressive globalisation of research activities, the risk is higher that research with sensitive ethical issues is conducted by European organisations outside the EU in a way that would not be accepted in Europe from an ethical point of view. This exportation of these non-compliant research practices is called ethics dumping". In 2015, a proposal from the TRUST consortium was selected by peer reviewers from a range of proposals submitted to GARRI.6.2014 to tackle the problem of ethics dumping. The primary output from the TRUST project work to reduce the risk of ethics dumping was a new code of ethics: the Global Code of Conduct for Research in Resource-Poor Settings (see below). Examples The following are some examples of different types of ethics dumping. Choosing a location or population for research, which is unlikely to benefit in full, or at all, from the research, for instance: Avian influenza research involving Indonesian human blood samples, when Indonesians were unlikely to benefit from the resulting vaccines. Imposing burdens and risks on research participants who are unlikely to benefit themselves, for instance: Ebola virus research undertaken in a resource-poor setting that had no incidence of Ebola, and amongst vulnerable populations who were unlikely to obtain access to the resulting products and services. Exporting valuable materials abroad without benefit sharing, for instance: Export of biological samples from South Africa “to developed countries occurs frequently” and whilst research “participants were supportive of providing samples for research, serious concerns were voiced about future use, benefit sharing and export of samples”. Undertaking medical research where the control group is only offered