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Speaking as Commissioner, National Bioethics Advisory Commission
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am Alexander Capron, and I have been invited to testify before the Subcommittee in two capacities today: as a member of the National Bioethics Advisory Commission (NBAC) and as an expert on legal issues in bioethics. In this statement, I summarize relevant conclusion of the Commission, and in a separate statement I present my personal views.NBAC was chartered by President Clinton in 1995 and began work on October 4, 1996. It studies ethical issues arising from biomedical and behavioral research and makes recommendations to the President, the National Science and Technology Council, and others. My fellow commissioners include physicians, theologians, ethicists, scientists, and lawyers, psychologists, and members of the general public.
On February 24, 1997, the day that the American news media reported that scientists in Scotland had succeeded in cloning an adult mammal for the first time, President Clinton asked NBAC to examine the "serious ethical questions" raised by "possible use of this technology to clone human beings." NBAC immediately undertook an intensive and open examination...