Tutorial - Ethics of children in clinical trials

The Declaration of Helsinki

The World Medical Association (WMA) Declaration of Helsinki
Ethical Principles for Medical Research Involving Human Subjects.

The Declaration of Helsinki was first published by the WMA in 1964. It provides international, ethical guidelines for all those involved in conducting medical research. The WMA has no actual powers and the Declaration of Helsinki is not legally binding. In reality, the WMA is seen as authoritative in that it represents the considered opinion of many medical experts from every region of the world and the Declaration carries great weight internationally.

Versions

You need to note that there are different versions of the Declaration of Helsinki. It was first ratified in 1964 and has been amended a number of times since then. The amendment dates can be found at the top of the web version of the Declaration here.

Be aware that the article by Edwards was written in 2005 and will therefore have used a version of the Declaration which is older than the current one.