What's a nice girl like you doing with a Nobel prize? Oct 6, 2009
She was dropped from the president's Council on Bioethics in 2004 after questioning its bias. A colleague and friend, Melbourne University dean of science Rob Saint, said Dr Blackburn chose her career at a time when women were starting to become much more involved in the sciences. (Sydney Morning Herald -- Australia)
Trio of Americans share 2009 Nobel medicine prize Oct 6, 2009
Aside from her research, Blackburn is known for criticizing the President's Council on Bioethics, on which she served from 2001 and 2004. She was dropped from the council after submitting a dissenting opinion on a stem cell report, which called for a moratorium on embryonic stem cell research, and asserted in the New England Journal of Medicine that "a growing sense that scientific research which, after all, is defined by the quest for truth is being manipulated for political ends" by the Bush... (USA Today)
Sarah Palin, Meet Hippocrates Sep 3, 2009
The President's Council on Bioethics, a carefully chosen committee of some of the field's most eminent members, was created to advise the executive branch on any and all issues for which guidance is needed. Furthermore, the much-maligned American Medical Association, a strong supporter of H.R. 3200, has urged President Obama to publicly recognize the code of ethics that governs the actions of physicians. (CBS News)
Change: But In What Direction? Jul 12, 2009
Perhaps most revealing is the elimination of the President's Council on Bioethics, a distinguished group of experts who explored the ethical and public policy implications of emerging biomedical developments such as cloning and embryonic stem cell research. The provided an important forum for discussing such matters, thereby fostering the development of a reasoned consensus about how to proceed through uncharted territory. (Townhall.com)
Manslaughter trial begins for 'faith healing' parents Jun 30, 2009
Carter Snead, a Notre Dame law professor and adviser to the President's Council on Bioethics, said judges have also tried to strike a balance over the years between parental rights and faith healing. "It's a very big deal when the state overrides the parents -- but I completely agree with those who say the state is in the right here," Snead said. (KGW Northwest NewsChannel 8, OR)
Americans United for Life: Obama's Disbanding Bioethics Council Raises Troubling Questions Jun 20, 2009
WASHINGTON, June 19 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- criticized President Obama's recent decision to disband the President's Council on Bioethics and replace it with a new bioethics commission having a mandate to offer "practical policy options.". The President's Council on Bioethics was created in November 2001 by President Bush after his decision to allow human embryonic stem-cell research for the first time while limiting the research to existing cell lines. (PR Newswire)
Pill wars: Should we use drugs to boost our brains? May 16, 2009
"In seeking by these [biotechnologies] to be better than we are or to like ourselves better than we do, we risk 'turning into someone else,' confounding the identity we have acquired through natural gift cultivated by genuinely lived experiences," wrote Leon Kass in a 2003 report on human enhancement from the President's Council on Bioethics. Yet others argue the definition of what is one's "real" self will be up to the individual and should be. (Christian Science Monitor -- USA)
Bush bioethics advisors take potshot at Obama stem cell platform Mar 28, 2009
Ten members of The President's Council on Bioethics, an 18-member bioethics advisory panel appointed by President Bush but still active until the end of September 2009, that as "lift[ing] the ban on federal funding for promising embryonic " was an inaccurate characterization of Bush's restrictions, which limited federally funded stem cell research to cell lines created before August 9, 2001. Echoing conservative talking points of the past several years, Bush's policy "did not ban federal funding... (Scientific American)
Former ambassador to Vatican to be honored Mar 22, 2009
She also has served on the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences and the President's Council on Bioethics. "Both as a public intellectual and as a diplomat, Mary Ann Glendon has impressively served our Church and our country," said the Rev. John Jenkins, the university president. (Anchorage Daily News)
Using Embryos ... Without Limit? Mar 15, 2009
I assume this was because I have long argued in these columns and during my five years on the President's Council on Bioethics that, contrary to the Bush policy, federal funding should be extended to research on embryonic stem cell lines derived from discarded embryos in fertility clinics. I declined to attend. (Townhall.com)
Embryos and ethics Mar 14, 2009
The commentator Charles Krauthammer - a graduate of Harvard Medical School, a quadriplegic, and a former member of the President's Council on Bioethics who did not agree with Bush's decision - as "the single most morally serious presidential speech on medical ethics ever given." In it, Bush explained why "embryonic stem-cell research offers both great promise and great peril," conscientiously laying out the arguments for and against supporting such research with tax dollars. He concluded that... (Boston Globe -- Editorial)
Carroll: Seven deadly sins relate to business Feb 22, 2009
According to a member of the President's Council on Bioethics, the debate over stem-cell research centers on the basic question regarding the moral status of a human embryo. The public has been divided on stem-cell research. (Athens Banner-Herald)
Rice University's Baker Institute experts available to discuss stem cell research, recommendations Feb 18, 2009
Continue the President's Council on Bioethics. . (EurekAlert!)
Obama tries to 'balance' on church-state tightrope Feb 13, 2009
" George, a Catholic who serves on the President's Council on Bioethics, created by Bush in 2001, predicted the advisory council in the faith-based office would accomplish little. "It's good symbolic politics and will not be substantively significant," he said. "Obama's policy will be the social liberal agenda to the extent he can manage to get it through. " Several battles with religious story lines loom ahead. Obama has signaled he would overturn Bush prohibitions on embryonic stem cell... (USA Today -- News)
