AAAS Forum Discusses the Human Rights of Children in Scientific Research
Since children cannot give their informed consent to participate in research, researchers must err on the side of protecting individuals more than they would have to with adults, Kodish said. For instance, researchers in the United States are not allowed to consider the benefit to society when designing research studies using children. Rather, any potential harm must be balanced by a potential benefit to the individual participants.Any potential harm to adults who consent to participate in research is weighed against the potential benefit to the individual plus the potential benefit to society. But the equation is different when the research subjects are children, said Eric Kodish, pediatrician and chair of the Center for Ethics, Humanities and Spiritual Care at the Cleveland Clinic.
However, trying to avoid all possible harm can result in a lack of research that benefits children, Kodish said. “In this country, we do a lot of research on sick children, and not much on healthy children. We may need to rethink that.”
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