Drug Testing On Children: Good or Bad?

[Nic_machiavelli]

Should drug companies be forced to test drugs on children?

NPR had commentary from a writer at BusinessWeek in which he argued that drug companies should be forced to test drugs on children. Evidently drug companies have lobbied successfully to prevent this from happening. His take on it was that it would cost to much.

He mentioned in his commentary that there were "ethical issues" that we would have to grapple with should they be forced to test the drugs on kids, but that this was preferable than the current system.

Do you agree? I don't.
First, the current system in which all children are in fact experimental subjects is completely fair. If Bill Gate's kid get sick he or she will have the same chance of a bad drug interaction as one of my kids.

Secondly, who is going to risk their children for scientific research? What kind of incentive would compensate parents for putting their children at risk? Personally, I'm afraid that such testing would occur in poorer areas of the country or world where money would be the incentive. That is a big ethical issue to "grapple with" and one which seems worse to me than the current system.

Thanks for your input.
Nic

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[Dr JPH]

Interesting issue.

Do the benefits outweight the risks?

Adults can make a conscious decision about their participation in trials, but what about children?

Will they or CAN they understand the risks?

Do their parents understand the risks?

If their parents enroll them in a study, is it child endangerment if the study has a high risk ratio?