Making All the Children Above Average: Ethical and Regulatory Concerns for Pediatricians in Pediatric Enhancement Research

Building on the knowledge generated by the long history of disease-oriented research, the next few decades will witness an explosion of biomedical enhancements to make people faster, stronger, smarter, less forgetful, happier, prettier, and live longer. Growing interest in pediatric enhancements is likely to stimulate the conduct of enhancement research involving children. However, guidelines for the protection of human subjects were developed for investigations of therapeutic modalities. To date, virtually no attention has been paid to whether these rules would be appropriate for investigations to establish the safety and efficacy of technologies intended for enhancement rather than therapeutic uses and, if not, whether ethically acceptable rules could be designed. This article discusses whether the current guidelines for pediatric research provide appropriate protections for pediatric subjects in enhancement research and considers what additional protections might be necessary

Making All the Children Above Average: Ethical and Regulatory Concerns for Pediatricians in Pediatric Enhancement Research

Building on the knowledge generated by the long history of disease-oriented research, the next few decades will witness an explosion of biomedical enhancements to make people faster, stronger, smarter, less forgetful, happier, prettier, and live longer. Growing interest in pediatric enhancements is likely to stimulate the conduct of enhancement research involving children. However, guidelines for the protection of human subjects were developed for investigations of therapeutic modalities. To date, virtually no attention has been paid to whether these rules would be appropriate for investigations to establish the safety and efficacy of technologies intended for enhancement rather than therapeutic uses and, if not, whether ethically acceptable rules could be designed. This article discusses whether the current guidelines for pediatric research provide appropriate protections for pediatric subjects in enhancement research and considers what additional protections might be necessary

Making All the Children Above Average: Ethical and Regulatory Concerns for Pediatricians in Pediatric Enhancement Research

Building on the knowledge generated by the long history of disease-oriented research, the next few decades will witness an explosion of biomedical enhancements to make people faster, stronger, smarter, less forgetful, happier, prettier, and live longer. Growing interest in pediatric enhancements is likely to stimulate the conduct of enhancement research involving children. However, guidelines for the protection of human subjects were developed for investigations of therapeutic modalities. To date, virtually no attention has been paid to whether these rules would be appropriate for investigations to establish the safety and efficacy of technologies intended for enhancement rather than therapeutic uses and, if not, whether ethically acceptable rules could be designed. This article discusses whether the current guidelines for pediatric research provide appropriate protections for pediatric subjects in enhancement research and considers what additional protections might be necessary

Making All the Children Above Average: Ethical and Regulatory Concerns for Pediatricians in Pediatric Enhancement Research

Building on the knowledge generated by the long history of disease-oriented research, the next few decades will witness an explosion of biomedical enhancements to make people faster, stronger, smarter, less forgetful, happier, prettier, and live longer. Growing interest in pediatric enhancements is likely to stimulate the conduct of enhancement research involving children. However, guidelines for the protection of human subjects were developed for investigations of therapeutic modalities. To date, virtually no attention has been paid to whether these rules would be appropriate for investigations to establish the safety and efficacy of technologies intended for enhancement rather than therapeutic uses and, if not, whether ethically acceptable rules could be designed. This article discusses whether the current guidelines for pediatric research provide appropriate protections for pediatric subjects in enhancement research and considers what additional protections might be necessary

Achieving an Optimal Childhood Vaccine Policy

Policies to remove parents' ability to opt-out from school immunization requirements on the basis of religious or personal beliefs (ie, nonmedical exemptions) may be a useful strategy to increase immunization rates and prevent outbreaks of vaccine-preventable disease. However, there is uncertainty about the effectiveness of this strategy and the range of possible outcomes. We advocate for a more deliberative process through which a broad range of outcomes is scrutinized and the balance of values underlying the policy decision to eliminate nonmedical exemptions is clearly articulated. We identify 3 outcomes that require particular consideration before policies to eliminate nonmedical exemptions are implemented widely and outline a process for making the values underlying such policies more explicit