title: Body matters: rethinking the ethical acceptability of non-beneficial clinical research with children.
abstract: The involvement of children in non-beneficial clinical research is extremely important for improving pediatric care, but its ethical acceptability is still disputed. Therefore, various pro-research justifications have been proposed throughout the years. The present essay aims at contributing to the on-going discussion surrounding children's participation in non-beneficial clinical research. Building on Wendler's 'contribution to a valuable project' justification, but going beyond a risk/benefit analysis, it articulates a pro-research argument which appeals to a phenomenological view on the body and vulnerability. It is claimed that children's bodies are not mere physical objects, but body-subjects due to which children, as persons, can contribute to research that may hold no direct clinical benefit to them even before they can give informed consent.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Biomedical Ethics, University of Basel, Bernoullistr 28, 4056, Basel, Switzerland, eva.declercq@unibas.ch.
authors.forename: Eva
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: De Clercq
authors.forename: Domnita Oana
authors.initials: DO
authors.lastname: Badarau
authors.forename: Katharina M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Ruhe
authors.forename: Tenzin
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wangmo
mesh_terms: D000533:Altruism; D035843:Biomedical Research / Q000941:ethics*; D002648:Child; D026689:Ethical Analysis; D006801:Humans; D057828:Informed Consent By Minors / Q000941:ethics*; D033281:Nontherapeutic Human Experimentation / Q000941:ethics*; D010372:Pediatrics / Q000941:ethics*; D018570:Risk Assessment; D035862:Vulnerable Populations