The involvement of children in non-beneficial clinical research is extremely
important for improving pediatric care, but its ethical acceptability is still
disputed. Therefore, various pro-research justifications have been proposed
throughout the years. The present essay aims at contributing to the on-going
discussion surrounding children’s participation in non-beneficial
clinical research. Building on Wendler’s ‘contribution to a valuable project’
justification, but going beyond a risk/benefit analysis, it articulates a
pro-research argument which appeals to a phenomenological view on the
body and vulnerability. It is claimed that children’s bodies are not mere
physical objects, but body-subjects due to which children, as persons, can
contribute to research that may hold no direct clinical benefit to them even
before they can give informed consent.