[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 7 (Thursday, February 5, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S440-S441]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         COMMISSION TO PROMOTE A NATIONAL DIALOGUE ON BIOETHICS

  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I want to take a moment to speak to the 
bioethics commission which will be proposed. It is part of a bill which 
I am not sure is going to make it to the floor today. I would like to 
comment on that commission.
  Mr. President, I want to comment briefly on this concept which is in 
the bill that will be considered sometime in the future. I am not sure 
it will be this afternoon, or next week, or sometime in the future. And 
the aspect that I want to comment on is this bioethics commission. I 
think it is critical that at the end of this century and on into the 
next century we have somewhere in the United States a forum where we 
can carry on intelligent discussions on the ethical, the theological, 
the scientific, and the medical issues that are inevitable as science 
progresses with breakthrough discoveries that have the potential both 
for very good--very good--but also evil. Where do we digest those in 
the society when they are coming through not every week nor every month 
but even more frequently? In response to that, I proposed the national 
bioethics commission.
  We have the National Bioethics Advisory Commission, so-called NBAC. 
And I think over the next few days the country will become familiar 
with that NBAC designation. The NBAC, the National Bioethics Advisory 
Commission was appointed entirely by the President of the United 
States. They did a very good job this past year in assimilating data, 
information, reports, and testimony from experts and the lay public 
broadly over a 90-day period addressing human cloning. That was a good 
start. But they very openly said that they were unable to substantively 
address the ethical issues surrounding human cloning.
  As I have said earlier today, as a scientist, and a public servant 
now, I want to make the case that we can no longer separate science 
from the ethical consideration in that we as a body must address how to 
establish a forum in which such discussions can be carried out.
  The Commission cited inadequate time to tackle the ethical issues in 
the context of our pluralistic, complex, intricate society in that they 
chose primarily to focus on scientific concerns as well as the less 
abstract concept of safety. What is safe or not safe? Is this procedure 
safe, or is it not safe? They then appealed to each American citizen to 
step up to the plate and exercise their leadership and their moral 
leadership in formulating a national policy on human cloning. We need 
that forum.
  Time has shown that neither the Presidential Commission nor the 
United States Congress is probably the forum, or at least is an 
inadequate forum, for addressing these bioethical issues which are of 
tremendous intricacy and important to society.
  I, therefore, proposed this national bioethics commission in our 
legislation. It is representative of the public at large. It has the 
combined participation of experts in law, experts in science, experts 
in theology, experts in medicine, experts in social science, experts in 
philosophy, and the interest of members of the public. It is my hope 
that this commission will forge a new path for our country in the field 
of bioethics that will enable us to have an informed, a thoughtful, a 
sophisticated, and scientific debate in the public square without fear 
on behalf of the public, or politicians, or politics driving our 
decisions.
  In this proposal, the majority and minority leaders of Congress would 
appoint the members of the panel. No current Member of Congress or the 
administration would serve on this panel. We simply must depoliticize 
these discussions which will simultaneously broaden input from the 
general public. Each and every citizen of this country should have the 
opportunity to contribute to these debates.
  This commission would be established within the Institute of 
Medicine, and would be known as a commission to promote a national 
dialogue on bioethics.
  Very briefly, it would have 25 members, 6 appointed by the majority 
leader of the Senate, 6 by the minority leader of the Senate, 6 
appointed by the Speaker of the House, and 6 appointed by the minority 
leader of the House of Representatives. There would be a chairman. In 
addition, representatives stated in the legislation would be from the 
fields of law, theology, philosophy, ethics, medicine, science, and 
social science. The commission would be appointed no later than 
December 1st of this year. We have to move ahead quickly. They would 
serve for a length of 3 years. And the duties of the commission, as 
spelled out in the legislation, would be to provide an independent 
forum for broad public participation and discourse concerning important 
bioethical issues, including cloning, and provide for a report to 
Congress concerning the findings, conclusions, and recommendations of 
the commission concerning Federal policy and possible congressional 
action.

  Subcommittees are established on that commission for legal issues, 
for theological issues, for philosophical

[[Page S441]]

and ethical issues, medical issues, and scientific issues, and for 
social issues.
  I will not belabor the commission, but want to come back to the 
concept and the concept is to have an appropriate forum to discuss the 
types of issues we are discussing today, which I have made the case 
that we have to act on today in response to proposals that have been 
made from the private sector and to have a better, a more appropriate, 
a more responsive, and a more representative forum to address such 
issues in the future.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  Mr. KERREY addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Nebraska.
  Mr. KERREY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that I may speak 
as if in morning business.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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