Ethics and paediatric research

In medical research on human subjects, considerations related to the well being of the human subject should take precedence over the interests of science and society. World Medical Association (WMA), Helsinki Declaration, 2000. People with parental responsibility…cannot agree to any intervention contrary to the child’s best interests. British Medical Association (BMA), 2004. A research procedure which is not intended directly to benefit the child subject is not necessarily either unethical or illegal. Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH), 2000. We believe that research in which children are submitted to more than minimal risk with only slight, uncertain or no benefit to themselves deserves serious ethical consideration. RCPCH, 2000. When there is ethical and scientific justification to conduct research with individuals incapable of …