National Research Act

The National Research Act is an American law enacted by the 93rd [United States Congress] and signed into law by President Richard Nixon on July 12, 1974. The law was passed following a series of congressional hearings on human-subjects research, directed by Senator Edward Kennedy.
The National Research Act created the National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and [Behavioral Research] to develop guidelines for [human subject research] and to oversee and regulate the use of human experimentation in medicine. The National Research Act gained traction as a response to the infamous Tuskegee syphilis study.

Provisions

The National Research Act issued Title 45, Part 46 of the Code of Federal Regulations: Protection of Human Subjects. The National Research Act is overseen by the Office of Human Research Protections. The Act also formalized a regulated IRB process through local institutional review boards, also overseen by the Office of Human Research Protections.