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Bioethics hits a crossroads
By Dan Vergano, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON ― Clones. Brain implants. Genetically engineered sports cheats. Members of the President's Council on Bioethics have chewed on a steady diet of science fiction favorites in the panel's first four years.
In pondering technologies not expected to bear fruit for years, the council, led by American Enterprise Institute fellow Leon Kass, has defined its mission as being a search for a "richer" bioethics, concerned with preserving human dignity amid the advance of biotechnology.

As Kass prepares to step down from his leadership role on Saturday, critics say it is time for council members to take their heads out of the clouds and tackle real problems, such as deficiencies in the health care and insurance systems. (Related link: Bioethics "expertise" comes from all corners)

How this disagreement in principle is resolved may define President Bush's science legacy, says Art Caplan, a bioethicist at the University of Pennsylvania.

The council has no power other than the bully pulpit and the president's ear. But reports from this and earlier such panels have been influential, observers say. "The most useful thing the council does is get people to say, 'This is an ethical problem,' " Caplan says. But the tendency to focus on long-term rather than immediate issues has been "a distraction," he says.

Even some within the council are calling for change. "I've been pushing for (discussion of) more practical matters for years and, unfortunately, haven't gotten very far," says council member Michael Gazzaniga, a neuroscientist at Dartmouth College. His call to examine medical costs was only briefly discussed at the council's meeting this month.