Doctors Can Now Experiment on Minors
A working group was set up at the Federal Health and Social Development Supervision Service (Roszdravnadzor) yesterday to draft amendments to the law “On Medicinal Substances” to allow the testing of medicines on children in Russia. The changes will bring Russian legislation in line with European legislation, which was amended to allow testing on children this year, and they are supported by the majority of doctors in the country. Patient advocates say, however, that doctors' responsibility for such experiments needs to be increased.
Chief pediatrician of the Ministry of Health and Social Development Alexander Baranov commented that there is a severe lack of pediatric medicines in Russia, which results in the use of medicines intended for adults on children, with great uncertainty in the dosages.
Lawyer Alexander Saversky, head of the public society for the protection of patients, warns that the changes on the law will create more work. “It will be necessary to track the contents of the vaccines and medicines carefully because, besides beneficial substances, there coud be viruses dangerous to the health of children in them. Doctors' responsibility for these experiments has to be increased through legislation,” he said.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Oct. 04, 2007
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Photo: Alexander Miridonov
