I have read the other posts I understand that it’s where the testing occurs and what they’ve gone through trials for. What I am wanting to know is why, is 12 an arbitrary number or is there a reason for choosing the age?
In: Biology
The honest answer is that any number they picked would be arbitrary and they just happened to choose 12.
Why is 18 considered an adult? Why can we not drive until we are 16? Drink until we are 21? Rent a car until we are 25?
For all of these questions, they just needed a number to divide the population based on a generalized level of maturity. Any number chosen will be arbitrary beyond that.
Most drug dosages are based on weight. You need at least X mg per kg to be an effective dose, but no more then Y mg per kg or else you risk toxicity or too high a chance of side/adverse effects. 12 happens to be an age at which you can be reasonably certain most people have at least started puberty and are approaching the assumed adult weight ranges the medicine is dosed for.
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