Clinical Trial on School Children

Today we have numerous organisations opposing the clinical trails on the basis of ethics, whether it be a clinical trial on animals or on humans. But how far is it justified to ask the parents of little schoolchildren to be allowed to participate in a clinical trial? 

First of all let us try to fully understand what is clinical trial. According to wikipedia definition, clinical trials are sets of tests in medical research and drug development that generate safety and efficacy data (or more specifically information about adverse drug reactions or adverse effects of other treatments) for health interventions (eg..drugs, diagnostics, devices, therapy protocols). In simple words, they are conducted to know whether existing treatments/drugs are safe, existing treatments/drugs have any side effects and to know whether new treatments/drugs are better than existing ones.

The next question that needs to be answered, given the fact that these trials involve unknown effects and risks is why and under what situations people volunteer to these trials. More often than not the answer in majority cases is the money offered but a small number of people consciously volunteer due to the fact that they already are suffering from an ailment and are willing to give themselves/rest of the society a chance at better health. 

Clinical trials provide very valuable information to the medical society to improve our health but they can also go horribly wrong. By increasing the transparency of the trial and controlling the time frame these accidents can be brought down.Weighing on the pros and cons of clinical trial, is it ethical to ask the parents to grant permission to allow their children to participate in the clinical trials? I think the answer is yes, it is ethical. But parents need to be aware of the fine print at the end of the agreement and need to be extra careful in observing their child for any sign of discomfort or illness. 

Provided all the precautionary measures are in place and the trial registered with concerned health department, clinical trials can be a source of life saving drug or treatment in future.