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While trust is seen as central to most social relations, most writers, including sociologists of science, assume that modern trust relations--especially those in regulatory relationships - tend towards the impersonal. Drawing on ethnographic material from one kind of scientific oversight body--research ethics committees based in the UK NHS--this paper argues that interpersonal trust is crucial to regulatory decision-making and intimately bound up with the way in which these oversight bodies work, and that as such they build on, rather than challenge, the trust-based nature of the scientific community.