How do the human subject research regulations define “children”?
The human subject research regulations define “children” as follows: “Children” are persons who have not attained the legal age for consent to treatments or procedures involved in the research, under the applicable law of the jurisdiction in which the research will be conducted (45 CFR 46.402(a)). In the United States the legal age of adulthood is a matter of state and local law. This means that who is legally considered a child may vary from state to state; in a large majority of states eighteen years of age is the legal age of adulthood, but this is not true in every state, locality, or territory. Also, there may be exceptions to who is considered a child and additional laws in places that define emancipated minors. The definition of “children” also takes into account the particular treatments or procedures involved in the proposed research; for example, in some places individuals who are sixteen years of age may legally consent to certain medical treatments, and so if the involvemen
