NIH Ethics Advisory Committee Disbanded
Have all the regulatory issues related to human genetics really been resolved? That seems to be the message sent by this emailed announcement [pdf here]:
The final meeting of the [Health and Human Services] Secretary's Advisory Committee on Genetics, Health, and Society (SACGHS) will be held October 5-6, 2010.
In its nearly 10 years of operation, SACGHS has addressed all the major topics delineated in its charter: the integration of genetic and genomic technologies into health care and public health; the clinical, public health, ethical, economic, legal, and societal implications of these technologies; gaps in research and data collection; the impact of patent policy and licensing practices on their accessibility and availability; and how genetic and genomic technologies are used in other settings such as education, employment, insurance, and law.
On the face of it, this announcement is, as Dan Vorhaus noted, "curious, to say the least." He notes that the committee's most recent reports were on subjects that are very much still under discussion, gene patents and direct-to-consumer testing, while there is every reason to expect that the "number and complexity of issues" will continue to expand. (His post at Genomics Law Report includes many useful links.) Nevertheless, Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and NIH Director Francis Collins are cancelling the committee, and Collins is scheduled to explain why next week.
Whatever the reason, it is indeed curious that the Department of Health and Human Services would disband such a committee just as issues at the intersection of ethics and biotechnology are starting to grow exponentially. The public deserves a better explanation.
Previously on Biopolitical Times: