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[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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