Clarification on the ethical use of placebo controlled trials was published last week by the World Medical Association following its four day council meeting in France.

The clarification follows criticism from researchers that when the association revised the Declaration of Helsinki last year, its guidance on clinical trials was impractical for researchers in many parts of the world.

The new ethical standards laid down under the revised declaration stated that the testing of drugs should be done against the best current treatment and not against placebo (BMJ …