Advances in paediatirc research are proving our understanding of the many factors affecting health and development of children, including the role of the environment and education. Unfortunately, the absence of specific ethical guidelines for research involving children and adolescents has proven to be an obstacle. A major challenge is to ensure advances are achieved in a way that maximizes the benefits of research, and offers special protection while respecting both parental authority and the developing autonomy of minors.

This book represents the results of a project undertaken by the National Council on Ethics in Human Research to study the ethical and legal issues of research involving children and adolescents. It has been funded through the Canadian Institutes for Health Canada. This 2 year project collected and critically reviewed international and Canadian policies on research involving children as well as the relevant literature since 1993 "Report on Research Involving Children" of the National Council on Bioethics in Human Research.

This collective work offers an analysis of the current norms and issues in paediatric research in the Canadian context. It focuses on eight different areas of research involving children. As an important addition to the reverences on research involving children in Canada, it provides:

- a review of international and Canadian norms on research involving human subjects with a particular focus on issues raised by pediatric research;

- new strategies for the conduct of social science and educational research;

- a review of emerging ethical issues in palliative care research;

- an analysis of policies addressing specific issues in the context of pediatric biobanks;

- recommandations for managing the complex issues of longitudinal studies;

- recommandations for the management of assent;

- emerging issues in newborn screening.