science

President's Council on Bioethics

President's Council on Bioethics is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand President's Council on Bioethics rather than just read about it. In short: The President's Council on Bioethics (PCBE) was a group of individuals appointed by United States President George W. Bush to advise his administration on bioethics.

President's Council on Bioethics — illustration

Key takeaways

President's Council on Bioethics belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect President's Council on Bioethics to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of President's Council on Bioethics from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The President's Council on Bioethics (PCBE) was a group of individuals appointed by United States President George W. Bush to advise his administration on bioethics. Established on November 28, 2001, by Executive Order 13237, the council was directed to "advise the President on bioethical issues that may emerge as a consequence of advances in biomedical science and technology". It succeeded and largely replaced the National Bioethics Advisory Commission, appointed by President Bill Clinton in 1996, which expired in 2001. The members of the council were appointed directly by the President; the President also chose the chairperson of the council (last appointed Chair was Edmund D. Pellegrino). Council members, totaling no more than 18, were appointed for a two-year term, after which time they could be reappointed by the President. Individuals appointed could not be officers or employees of the federal government. Executive Order 13237 was renewed in 2003, 2005 and again in 2007.

Expiration and replacement In June 2009, President Barack Obama's administration informed members of the council that their services were no longer needed. Through a spokesperson, Obama made clear that he intended to replace the committee with a body that "offers practical policy options" rather than philosophical guidance. Executive Order 13521 of November 24, 2009, superseded the previous council by establishing the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues. On November 25, 2009, Obama named Amy Gutmann, the president of the University of Pennsylvania, to chair his new advisory panel on bioethics. James W. Wagner, the president of Emory University, was appointed vice chairperson.

Criticism Critics have questioned the motives and goals of the PCBE. Elizabeth Blackburn, who was dismissed from the Commission, co-authored an article, citing examples published by other members, suggesting that it was set up to justify President Bush's positions on stem cell research and abortion, writing "...our concern is that some of their contents... may have ended up distorting the potential of biomedical research and the motivation of some of its researchers." Bioethicist Leslie A. Meltzer accused the council of wrapping "political and religious agendas in the guise of dignity," and described them as largely Christian-affiliated neoconservatives; philosophers and political scientists rather than bench scientists. Meltzer said that Council members mischaracterized the positions of their opponents and used invective rather than addressing the merits of the arguments. The response to President Obama's decision to disband the council drew both criticism and praise. Colleen Carroll Campbell, a former speechwriter for President Bush and a member of the conservative advocacy group Ethics and Public Policy Center predicted that "Obama's desire to see his policies backed by expert 'consensus' more likely will be realized with a new commission composed of like-minded political liberals steeped in utilitarianism than with the brainy, diverse and unpredictable crew that populated the now-defunct council." In contrast, Jacob M. Appel of New York's Mount Sinai Hospital wrote that "the panel itself, far from being an incubator of intellectual ferment, had evolved into a publicly funded right-wing think tank with a handful of token moderates for window dressing" and argued that "Obama was wise to scrap the entire panel and to start over."

Members and staff

Chairmen Edmund D. Pellegrino - chairman (2005–2008) Leon R. Kass - chairman (2001–2005)

Members

Council staff F. Daniel Davis - executive director (2005–2009) Yuval Levin - executive director (2004–2005) Dean Frazier Clancy - executive director (2001–2004) O. Carter Snead - general counsel (2003–2005) Richard Roblin - scientific director (2001–2005), acting executive director (2005)

Reports and publications Taking Care: Ethical Caregiving in Our Aging Society (2005) White Paper: Alternative Sources of Human Pluripotent Stem Cells (2005) Reproduction and Responsibility: The Regulation of New Biotechnologies (2004) Monitoring Stem Cell Research (2004) Being Human: Readings from the President's Council on Bioethics (2003) Beyond Therapy: Biotechnology and the Pursuit of Happiness (2003) Human Cloning and Human Dignity (2002)

See also Bioethics Biotechnology Cloning Comité consultatif national d'éthique, a French governmental advisory council on bioethics issues created by François Mitterrand in 1983 Eugenics President's Commission for the Study of Ethical Problems in Medicine and Biomedical and Behavioral Research (U.S. 1978) Stem-cell research

References

External links The President's Council on Bioethics archived website. Council Reports and Publications Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics Archived 2018-10-24 at the Wayback Machine "Executive Order 13237". Archived from the original on November 23, 2005. Retrieved August 25, 2005. The executive order that established the Council and defined its goals and powers.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with President's Council on Bioethics

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what President's Council on Bioethics claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to President's Council on Bioethics before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about President's Council on Bioethics ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of President's Council on Bioethics

In research: President's Council on Bioethics appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses President's Council on Bioethics in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: President's Council on Bioethics is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Bioethics, Executive branch of the government of the United States, United States national commissions, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for President's Council on Bioethics outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study President's Council on Bioethics in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what President's Council on Bioethics means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain President's Council on Bioethics out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is President's Council on Bioethics in simple terms?

The President's Council on Bioethics (PCBE) was a group of individuals appointed by United States President George W. Bush to advise his administration on bioethics.

Why does President's Council on Bioethics matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study President's Council on Bioethics?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on President's Council on Bioethics.