Beyond Therapy: Biotechnology and the Pursuit of Happiness
The President's Council on Bioethics
Washington, D.C.
October 2003
www.bioethics.gov
Preface
Beyond Therapy: Biotechnology and the Pursuit of Happiness
is a report of the President's Council on Bioethics, which was
created by President George W. Bush on November 28, 2001, by means
of Executive Order 13237.
The Council's purpose is to advise the President on bioethical
issues related to advances in biomedical science and technology.
In connection with its advisory role, the mission of the Council
includes the following functions:
- To undertake fundamental inquiry into the human and moral significance
of developments in biomedical and behavioral science and technology.
- To explore specific ethical and policy questions related to
these developments.
- To provide a forum for a national discussion of bioethical
issues.
- To facilitate a greater understanding of bioethical issues.
President Bush left the Council free to establish its own priorities
among the many issues encompassed within its charter, and to determine
its own modes of proceeding.
In keeping with our mission, we have undertaken an inquiry into
the potential implications of using biotechnology "beyond therapy,"
in order to try to satisfy deep and familiar human desires: for
better children, superior performance, ageless bodies, and happy
souls. Such uses of biotechnology, some of which are now possible
and some of which may become possible in the future, are likely
to present us with profound and highly consequential ethical challenges
and choices. They may play a crucial role in shaping human experience
in the fast-approaching age of biotechnology.
We believe that the promises and perils of this prospect merit
the attention of the nation. They are a worthy target for fundamental
inquiry, an appropriate arena for exploring specific ethical questions,
an important subject for ongoing national discussion, and (through
such discussion) perhaps also a means of facilitating greater understanding
of bioethical issues. Our intention in this report is to clarify
the relevant scientific possibilities and, especially, to explore
the ethical and social implications of using biotechnical powers
for purposes beyond therapy.
The Council has been attentive to this subject from its very earliest
days, beginning with a discussion at its first meeting, in January
of 2002, of the purposes and motivations underlying biomedical science.
The Council has also devoted time expressly to this particular project
at nine of its meetings in the past two years (in April, July, September,
October, and December of 2002, and in January, March, June, and
July of 2003), taking testimony from experts in the relevant scientific,
ethical, and social arenas, receiving public comment, and engaging
in serious deliberation among the Members. All told, twenty-two
sessions, of ninety minutes each, were devoted to the subject at
public meetings. Complete transcripts of all these sessions are
available to the public on the Council's website at www.bioethics.gov.
This report draws directly upon those sessions and discussions,
as well as on written material prepared by some Council members
and staff during the process. Given that context, it is crucial
to understand the precise nature of this document: The final document
is not a research report, but an ethical inquiry. It makes no pretense
of comprehensiveness; it does not report exhaustively on the literature,
scientific or ethical. Rather, it aspires to thoughtful reflection
and represents mainly a (partial) distillation of the Council's
own thinking. Not every Member shares every concern here expressed,
or every scientific speculation or ethical assessment offered, and
a few disagreements on particular points are noted in the text.
Different Members care more about different topics, and all of us
are aware that there are issues not addressed, and scientific opinions
and ethical viewpoints not reflected. Yet, as a Council, we offer
the entire document as a guide to further thinking on this very
important subject.
We hope, through this report, to advance the nation's awareness
and understanding of a critical set of bioethical issues and to
bring them beyond the narrow circle of bioethics professionals into
the larger public arena, where questions of such consequence rightly
belong.
In creating this Council, President Bush expressed his desire
to see us
consider all of the medical and ethical ramifications of biomedical
innovation. . . . This council will keep us apprised of new developments
and give our nation a forum to continue to discuss and evaluate
these important issues. As we go forward, I hope we will always
be guided by both intellect and heart, by both our capabilities
and our conscience.
It has been our goal in the present report, as in all of our work,
to live up to these high hopes and noble aspirations.
LEON R. KASS, M.D.
Chairman
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