CHILDREN IN MEDICAL-RESEARCH - AUSTRALIAN ETHICAL STANDARDS

This paper examines standards for the use of children as research part icipants in medical research which are relevant to Australia and relat es the standards to pivotal ethical issues. The standards include the National Health and Medical Research Council's NHMRC Statement and Sup plementary Notes, professional codes of ethics, international human ri ghts conventions, United Kingdom and United States codes of ethics, an d statute and case law. The key ethical issues of potential risk and b enefit to the child, and consent to research participation are discuss ed. Suggestions for the improvement of the NHMRC Statement are made.