| [2001-2009] President's
Council on Bioethics (PCBE)
Archived
PCBE website
Created by President George W. Bush in 2001, the Council
was charged with advising the President on bioethical issues
that may emerge as a consequence of advances in biomedical
science and technology. It expired in 2009.
[1996-2001] National Bioethics
Advisory Commission (NBAC)
Archived
NBAC website
This commission met for the first time in 1996, a year
after it was created by Executive Order. It expired in 2001.
[1994-1995] Advisory Committee
on Human Radiation Experiments
Created in January 1994 and dissolved in October 1995,
the 14-member Committee was charged with investigating and
reporting on the use of human beings as subjects of federally
funded research using ionizing radiation. To maximize public
access as required under the Federal Advisory Committee
Act, the Committee created for the first time a gopher site
on the World Wide Web, which is now under the National Security
Agency Archives at
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/radiation/ . For additional
information, see http://www.hss.energy.gov/HealthSafety/ohre/roadmap/index.html
[1994] Human Embryo Research
Panel (National Institutes of Health)
This panel was formed by the National Institutes of Health
in January 1994. The group classified human embryo research
into three categories: acceptable, needing additional review,
and unacceptable. It also drafted guidelines for the review
and conduct of acceptable research. The Advisory Committee
to the Director of NIH unanimously approved the report,
but President Clinton issued a statement saying, "I
do not believe that federal funds should be used to support
the creation of human embryos for research purposes, and
I have directed that NIH not allocate any resources for
such research."
[1989-ongoing as of 2010] NIH-DOE
Joint Working Group on Ethical, Legal and Social Implications
(ELSI) of Human Genome Research
ELSI is the largest bioethics initiative funded by the
government, where a percentage of the research budgets within
the U.S. Dept. of Energy and the U.S. Dept. of Health and
Human Services is set aside to study the ethical, legal
and social implications of research on the human genome.
Begun in 1989, a joint working group between the two departments
analyzes critical issues and provides guidance. Currently
ELSI focuses on four priority areas: (1) the use and interpretation
of genetic information; (2) clinical integration of genetic
technologies; (3) issues surrounding genetics research;
and (4) public and professional education and training on
those issues.
[1988-1990] Biomedical Ethical
Advisory Committee
The 14 initial members of this Committee were selected
by the Biomedical Ethics Board, which was made up of six
senators and six members of Congress. The group functioned
only briefly from late 1988 to early 1989 and had two meetings
before its parent group became politically deadlocked due
to abortion politics, its appropriations were frozen, and
finally its term expired in 1990.
[1988] Human Fetal Tissue Transplantation
Research Panel
The National Institutes of Health created this 21 member
advisory panel, composed of medical researchers, clergy,
ethicists, lawyers, and politicians, to deliberate over
federal support of therapeutic transplantation research
using human tissue obtained from aborted fetuses. The group
existed from the spring to the fall of 1988. In its December
report, the panel in a majority vote of 19 to 2 recommended
continuing the funding for such research if guidelines were
established to keep abortion separate from the research.
Despite the recommendation, the moratorium on such research
that went into place as this topic was debated was extended
from a temporary one to an indefinite one.
[1984] Great Britain: The Warnock
Report on Human Fertilisation and Embryology
Chaired by Dame Mary Warnock, the 15-member committee examined
the social, ethical, and legal implications of developments
in assisted reproduction.
[1978-1983] President's Commission
for the Study of Ethical Problems in Medicine and Biomedical
and Behavioral Research
This Congressionally mandated group was formed in 1978,
succeeding the National Commission for the Protection of
Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioral Research. It
worked independently from January 1980 to March 1983.
[1978-1979] Ethics Advisory
Board (EAB)
This group began in 1978 under the auspices of the Department
of Health, Education and Welfare. Its pronouncement on human
embryo research in 1979 followed by the EAB dissolution
began a 15-year moratorium on such research.
[1974-1978] National Commission
for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioral
Research
The first public national body
to shape bioethics policy in the U.S., this commission was
created by Congress in 1974 and was under the Dept. of Health,
Education and Welfare (now known as the Dept. of Health
and Human Services) until 1978.
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