When children are too young to make their ownautonomous decisions, decisions have to be madefor them. In certain contexts we allow parentsand others to make these decisions, and do notinterfere unless the decision clearly violatesthe best interest of the child. In othercontexts we put a priori limits on whatkind of decisions parents can make, and/or whatkinds of considerations they have to take intoaccount. Consent to medical research currentlyfalls into the second group mentioned here. Wewant to consider and ultimately reject one (...) ofthe arguments put forward for putting medicalresearch into the second category. We willargue that some objections to children'sparticipation in research are either based onan implausibly restrictive conception of whatis in fact in the child's best interests orthat there is an implicit and false premisehidden in this argument; i.e., the premise thatour children have so deeply fallen into moralturpitude that we must assume that they wouldnot want to fulfill their moral obligations,or, that they will grow up to be morallydeficient and will then wish not to have actedwell while a child. (shrink)

Definition of the problem: Medical research with children, especially non-therapeutic research, requires particular consideration. In the current situation this kind of research is not clearly regulated by law in Germany. This entails practical problems in evaluating clinical studies from an ethical point of view. Arguments and conclusion: To develop a new policy framework the international ethical discussion is reviewed. The article analyzes the historical development of research with minors from an ethical perspective, the notion of minimal risk, criteria for evaluating (...) risk and harm in research, consent and assent procedures, and the participation of parents and children in the planning of clinical studies. A list of proposals for minimal standard in ethical regulation of research with minors is developed. (shrink)