États-Unis

Comités nationaux de bioéthique ou d'éthique des sciences

National Bioethics Advisory Commission (NBAC), États-Unis

Naissance : This commission met for the first time in 1996, a year after it was created by Executive Order. It expired in 2001.

Bioéthique au NIH, États-Unis

Historique : The Department of Clinical Bioethics was launched in late 1996. In 1977, John Fletcher, Ph.D., was appointed by then Director Mortimer Lipsett as the bioethicist at the Clinical Center. Among the responsibilities of this role, Dr. Fletcher was expected to read every research protocol and evaluate it for ethical content. At that time, there was a great deal of suspicion about bioethics and bioethicists at NIH. In 1985, the one-person position expanded into a Bioethics Program. Dr. Fletcher left NIH in 1987, and Dr. Alison Wichman, a neurologist, became first the acting chief and then the chief of the Bioethics Program. Among her initiatives were the inclusion of a bioethicist on each of the NIH institutional review boards (IRBs), the creation of a bioethics fellowship program, and, in 1990, the formation of an ethics committee for the Clinical Center. Dr. Wichman resigned in 1991 and Dr. Frederick Bonkovsky assumed the leadership of an expanded Bioethics Program that included two staff fellows and a secretary. In July 1995, in collaboration with the Office of Human Subjects Research, the National Institute of Nursing Research, and the National Center for Genome Research, Dr. Gallin convened a "Conference on the Future of Clinical Bioethics at the National Institutes of Health Intramural Program." The purpose of the conference was for Dr. Gallin to delineate his vision for a new Department of Clinical Bioethics and for the attendees to offer their suggestions regarding the structure and function of the proposed department. A national search for the chief of the proposed Department of Clinical Bioethics began in the fall of 1995, resulting in my assuming the position in February 1998.

Mission :

The Department of Clinical Bioethics (DCB) is a center for research, training, and service related to bioethical issues. The DCB conducts conceptual, empirical, and policy-related research into bioethical issues :

- to offer comprehensive training to future bioethicists ;

- to offer educational programs for biomedical researchers and clinical providers;

- to provide high quality ethics consultation services to clinicians, patients, and families of the NIH's Clinical Center ;

- to advise the NIH IRBs on ethical conduct of research protocols.

President's Council on Bioethics

Historique : 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. Executive Order 13237 : November 28, 2001 :
 Creation of The President's Council on Bioethics.
 By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered as follows:

Section 1. Establishment. There is established the President's Council on Bioethics (the "Council"). 



Section 2. Mission. 


a. The Council shall advise the President on bioethical issues that may emerge as a consequence of advances in biomedical science and technology. In connection with its advisory role, the mission of the Council includes the following functions: 


- 1. to undertake fundamental inquiry into the human and moral significance of developments in biomedical and behavioral science and technology; 


- 2. to explore specific ethical and policy questions related to these developments; 


- 3. to provide a forum for a national discussion of bioethical issues; 


- 4. to facilitate a greater understanding of bioethical issues;

- 5. to explore possibilities for useful international collaboration on bioethical issues.

b. In support of its mission, the Council may study ethical issues connected with specific technological activities, such as embryo and stem cell research, assisted reproduction, cloning, uses of knowledge and techniques derived from human genetics or the neurosciences, and end of life issues. The Council may also study broader ethical and social issues not tied to a specific technology, such as questions regarding the protection of human subjects in research, the appropriate uses of biomedical technologies, the moral implications of biomedical technologies, and the consequences of limiting scientific research. 

 c. The Council shall strive to develop a deep and comprehensive understanding of the issues that it considers. In pursuit of this goal, the Council shall be guided by the need to articulate fully the complex and often competing moral positions on any given issue, rather than by an overriding concern to find consensus. The Council may therefore choose to proceed by offering a variety of views on a particular issue, rather than attempt to reach a single consensus position. 

 d. In support of its mission, the Council may accept suggestions of issues for consideration from the heads of other Government agencies and other sources, as it deems appropriate. 
 f. In establishing priorities for its activities, the Council shall consider the urgency and gravity of the particular issue; the need for policy guidance and public education on the particular issue; the connection of the bioethical issue to the goal of Federal advancement of science and technology; and the existence of another entity available to deliberate appropriately on the bioethical issue. 


Activités de consultation ou de débat public:

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