Chunk #102 — PART II. CORE QUESTIONS — F. What is the Content of those Responsibilities? Four Issues and Who Should Address Them — Step 4: Recontacting the contributor to offer the finding
On the other side of the biobank flow chart (see Figure 1), it is difficult to imagine a circumstance in which secondary researchers should be the ones to recontact a contributor, even when it is their research that uncovers the IF or IRR. We are unaware of a model in which researchers conducting secondary reanalysis have any contact with the contributors. Indeed, MTAs and DAAs commonly forbid secondary researchers from even attempting re-identification of contributors.80 Under our recommendations, IFs and IRRs discovered by secondary researchers should flow back to the biobank for analysis and handling. Thus, recontact is a matter for the biobank or primary research (or collection) sites to handle, not secondary researchers.
