Following a disputed review of a paper submitted to this journal the present paper seeks to raise the profile of some of the issues involved when the research community engages with vulnerable people. The paper is unashamedly polemical. It argues that this is a dangerous time for vulnerable people and that current protections are inadequate. The paper suggests the need to re-evaluate the whole relationship between the scientific community and vulnerable people but also tries to identify some practical and immediate improvements that could be made.