Five months after abruptly dismantling the bioethics advisory council left by his predecessor, US President Barack Obama last week created a new bioethics commission that will move beyond the issues that consumed previous panels, such as stem cells and cloning. Based within the Department of Health and Human Services, the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues is explicitly charged with recommending legislative and regulatory action and promises to have more influence on policy. (Nature News)
December 1st, 2009 at 1:33 pm
We have a few words about the new commission (and the bioethics council that preceded it) over on our ‘Futurisms’ blog:
http://futurisms.thenewatlantis.com/2009/11/new-bioethics-commission.html
December 3rd, 2009 at 1:09 pm
What we need now from the Obama Administration are two separate entities: (1) a national regulatory entity charged with human research oversight and (2) a real Ethics Commission that is independent from governmental control, free to explore, analyze and reflect on any issues it deems ethically and socially critical and make pronouncements based on universal values and ethical principles. By naming Dr. Amy Gutman, primarily a political scientist, as Chair for this task, and housing the Bioethics Commission itself within the Department of Health and Human Services, President Obama gives us no confidence that he is serious about ethics, and further reinforces the perception that he views ethics essentially as subservient to politics, and a derivative of his political agenda.