Poland’s Constitution (1997) states: “No one shall be subjected to scientific experimentation, including medical experimentation, without his voluntary consent.” 

Poland’s Penal Code (1997) provides for the punishment of any person who, in violation of international law, carries out scientific experiments on persons hors de combat, protected persons and persons enjoying international protection. 

In the Hoess case in 1947, the Supreme National Tribunal of Poland convicted individuals charged with committing “medical war crimes”, including “castration experiments, experiments intended to produce sterilization, premature termination of pregnancy and other experiments on pregnant or child-bearing women, experiments of artificial insemination, [and] experiments aimed at cancer research”. 

In 2004, in its fifth periodic report to the Human Rights Committee, Poland stated that “article 39 of the Constitution provides that no one shall be subject to scientific experimentation, including medical experimentation, without his voluntary consent”.