Princeton Weekly Bulletin February 2/15/99

NBAC meets on campus to discuss ethical issues

  


President Shapiro (l), chair of the National Bioethics Advisory Commission (NBAC), and NBAC research director Kathi Hanna were part of a discussion of ethical issues raised by advances in biotechnology at the commission's February 2 meeting in Whig Hall. For story, see page 2. (photo: Denise Applewhite)
 
The National Bioethics Advisory Commission chaired by President Harold Shapiro met on campus this month to discuss ethical concerns posed by breakthroughs in biotechnology.

In its meetings, held February 2 and 3 in Whig Hall, the commission turned its attention to an examination of the ethical and public policy issues raised by research on human embryonic stem cells.

Several groups of scientists announced late last year that they had isolated a special type of human cell, a so-called pluripotent cell capable of maturing into any cell in the body. The discoveries set off waves of ethical worries, largely because most methods for obtaining these cells involve taking apart very early-stage human embryos.

At the Princeton meeting, the commission spent part of the first day drafting a report on the ethical issues raised for researchers and their sponsors when using human biological materials. They spent the rest of the two days discussing human embryonic stem cells. The panel developed an outline for its report and listened to testimony from a variety of scientific and legal experts.

The commission started its discussion of stem cells by comparing three ways of obtaining the cells. One method is to derive them from aborted fetuses; another is to take them from embryos that were created in fertility clinics but are no longer wanted; a third is to create a human embryo specifically for the purpose of deriving stem cells. One way of creating such embryos could be through the use of somatic cell nuclear transfer techniques or "Dolly-like" cloning. In its initial discussions the commission focused on the issue of whether the source of the stem cells was a morally relevant consideration in deciding whether stem cell research was appropriate for federal funding.

President Bill Clinton formed the bioethics advisory commission in 1995 to examine how researchers conduct studies that involve human subjects, but its role has expanded dramatically in recent years as scientific advances began to challenge the adequacy of current laws and policy. The commission, composed of 17 leading scientists, bioethicists and other experts, meets monthly in public sessions throughout the country. It completed a report on human cloning in June 1997.

For more information about the advisory commission and its activities, see its Web site at www.bioethics.gov.