Ethical considerations in development of future therapies for women and children

Abstract

Translational toxicology has the potential to equip healthcare providers with new strategies to address health effects from exposure to toxic agents, especially for women. Yet in many cases, the existence of developmental milestones is coextensive with vulnerability, such that these populations merit special protections when it comes to their participation in the very research that would yield these strategies. This chapter reviews the ethical considerations and regulatory limitations that obtain to these groups of research participants and then applies these considerations to the fundamental concepts in translational toxicology. The focus of this chapter is the development of future therapies. First, the chapter reviews the criteria for what makes research ethical, and then describes the ethical and regulatory considerations that attach to the kinds of projects necessary for the development of future therapies in translational toxicology. Following this, the chapter details considerations unique to each experimental strategy (prevention, mitigation, and reversal), and finally includes several general ethical considerations for the discipline as a whole.