Ethical considerations in research with children.

ABSTRACT: Ethical concerns and medical advances unique to children and adolescents make pediatric research an evolving endeavor. The current regulations for clinical research are based on a combination of ethical thought and history, some of it being very tragic. This article presents the ethical and historical underpinnings of these regulations, including elaborative discussion on ethical standards in research. In addition, the article highlights that every effort should be made to actively involve children as participants in the research process and care must be taken to protect the rights of all children, as well as specific groups of children, in research activity.c