President's bioethics council disbanded - June 19, 2009
The New York Times reported this week that the current US President's Council on Bioethics has been disbanded. Its charter had been due to expire on 30 September.
The advisory council has had a somewhat turbulent past. President George W. Bush set it up in late 2001, following his decision to permit federally funded research on human embryonic stem cells, but only on cell lines that were in existence at the time of the announcement. Its first chair, Leon Kass, drew fire for what some regarded as ideological decisions. In 2004, council member Elizabeth Blackburn was removed after speaking out against Bush's stem-cell regulations; at the time, Kass said that she was not removed because of her political views (Nature; Nature Biotechnology). The following year, Kass left and was replaced as chair by Edmund Pellegrino of Georgetown University.
This March, 10 members of the 18-member council took the unusual step of putting out a personal consensus statement criticising President Obama's lifting of Bush's restrictions on human embryonic stem cell research.
A White House spokesman told the Times that President Obama will appoint a new council with a new mandate that “offers practical policy options". Reports from the current council include such topics as ethical caregiving and the determination of death.
It remains to be seen whether Obama will fall prey to the same trap in selecting council members. One can, however, reasonably expect Jonathan Moreno, a bioethicist at the University of Pennsylvania, to be involved in the process. Moreno is also a leading bioethicist at the Center for American Progress, the Washington-based think tank that has served as a farm system for appointees in the new administration.
Comments
If I recall correctly, Bush disbanded a previous bioethics committee before establishing this one in 2001, apparently to gain more direct control over the committee's composition. The thing to watch now is how Obama configures his new bioethics committee. If the new panel is allowed more independence from White House ideology, that would be a big step (back) in the right direction.
Posted by: Alan Dove | June 19, 2009 03:44 PM