A current and a former member of President Bush's Council on Bioethics on Friday in the April 2004 issue of the journal PLoS Biology published a "detailed" critique of two of the council's past reports, saying that the group "skewed scientific facts in service of a political and ideological cause," the Boston Globe reports (Cook, Boston Globe, 3/6). Bush in 2001 issued an executive order to create the council -- which is staffed by scholars, scientists, theologians and others -- to "advise [him] on bioethical issues that may emerge as a consequence of advances in biomedical science and technology" (Kaiser Daily Reproductive Health Report, 3/4). Elizabeth Blackburn, a former council member and cell biologist at the University of California-San Francisco, and Janet Rowley, a current council member and biologist at the University of Chicago, in the critique said that accepting Bush's invitation to be on the council was "difficult" because Bush's opposition to embryonic stem cell research and cloning for research purposes was "well-known" and conflicted with their own views. However, Blackburn and Rowley write that they were "grateful" that Bush "was willing to invite serious biomedical scientists to help formulate advice to him -- and ultimately to contribute to the development of national policy -- on these critically important advances." After being on the council for more than two years, Blackburn and Rowley say that they wrote the critique of two of the council's reports because of their "deep concern" about council recommendations on stem cell research and research on life-extending therapy (Blackburn/Rowley, PLoS Biology, April 2004).

'Monitoring Stem Cell Research'
Blackburn and Rowley, who were two of three full-time scientists on the council, say that the council's January 2004 report, titled "Monitoring Stem Cell Research," "overstate[s]" the potential of research using adult stem cells, while it "play[s] down" the potential of embryonic stem cell research, according to the Globe (Boston Globe, 3/6). The scientists say that the report's findings, which make "selective use of science," were being used to "justify" the Bush administration's opposition to embryonic stem cell research, according to London's Times (Henderson, Times, 3/6). Blackburn said that although the council is supposed to be impartial, the reports have "seemed to be driven by a preexisting agenda and did not accurately portray the scientific underpinnings of the ethical issues the council was grappling with," according to the Globe.

'Beyond Therapy'
The scientists also criticize the council's October 2003 report, titled "Beyond Therapy: Biotechnology and the Pursuit of Happiness," which analyzed how biotechnology, including selecting the sex of embryos, could result in unexpected and possibly harmful ends, according to the Globe (Boston Globe, 3/6). The 310-page report focused on present and future biotechnology interventions that are aimed at self-improvement or the enhancement of the "genetic inheritance" of future offspring, rather than on restoring health or curing disease (Kaiser Daily Reproductive Health Report, 10/17/03). In its discussion of preimplantation genetic diagnosis, the report "raises ... the specter of designer babies ... by implying that selecting embryos for intelligence or other traits, such as temperament, is a possibility," according to Blackburn and Rowley. However, this possibility is "highly unlikely and indeed may not even be feasible," although "it is easy to take away from the report the feeling that such genetic manipulation will happen and is even imminent," Blackburn and Rowley write (PLoS Biology, April 2004). Blackburn and Rowley also say that the report "unfairly characterizes" research into life-prolonging therapies as "driven by the goal of immortality," according to the Globe.

Split in Council
Blackburn and Rowley's critique marks the "sharpest public split" in the council since it was formed in 2001, according to the Globe (Boston Globe, 3/6). Bush last month dismissed Blackburn and William May, a medical ethicist and retired professor at Southern Methodist University, and appointed three new members to the council. Both Blackburn and May had been outspoken supporters of stem cell research and had often clashed with more conservative members of the panel. A group of 170 scholars, researchers and physicians on Wednesday signed an open letter to Bush criticizing the dismissal of Blackburn and May (Kaiser Daily Reproductive Health Report, 3/4). Michael Gazzaniga, a neuroscientist at Dartmouth College and the other full-time scientist on the council, said that he was "very disheartened" by Blackburn's dismissal, adding that he "100% support[s] what [Blackburn and Rowley] are trying to do," according to the Globe. However, Gazzaniga declined to elaborate on the details of his support for Blackburn and Rowley, according to the Globe. A spokesperson for council Chair Dr. Leon Kass said that Kass has "no comment" on the scientists' critique, adding that Blackburn and Rowley's views are "adequately represented" in the council's reports (Boston Globe, 3/6).