Aggregated News
Members of the President’s Council on Bioethics were told by the White House last week that their services were no longer needed and were asked to cancel a planned meeting, a council staff member said Wednesday.
The council was disbanded because it was designed by the Bush administration to be “a philosophically leaning advisory group” that favored discussion over developing a shared consensus, said Reid Cherlin, a White House press officer.
President Obama will appoint a new bioethics commission, one with a new mandate and that “offers practical policy options,” Mr. Cherlin said.
The council was appointed by President George W. Bush in November 2001, in the wake of his decision to let government-financed scientists begin research with human stem cells, but only with existing cell cultures.
Mr. Bush’s council was first led by Leon Kass of the University of Chicago and, since 2005, by Edmund Pellegrino of Georgetown University.
Under Dr. Kass in particular, the council was sometimes accused of being more ideological than its predecessors, but several bioethicists said that was not entirely fair.
“The other view is...
The council was disbanded because it was designed by the Bush administration to be “a philosophically leaning advisory group” that favored discussion over developing a shared consensus, said Reid Cherlin, a White House press officer.
President Obama will appoint a new bioethics commission, one with a new mandate and that “offers practical policy options,” Mr. Cherlin said.
The council was appointed by President George W. Bush in November 2001, in the wake of his decision to let government-financed scientists begin research with human stem cells, but only with existing cell cultures.
Mr. Bush’s council was first led by Leon Kass of the University of Chicago and, since 2005, by Edmund Pellegrino of Georgetown University.
Under Dr. Kass in particular, the council was sometimes accused of being more ideological than its predecessors, but several bioethicists said that was not entirely fair.
“The other view is...