The US government is coming under increasing pressure to create a commission
to deal with ethical issues raised by biotechnology.
The US Congress鈥檚 Office of Technology Assessment reports that at least
27 other nations have national bioethics commissions or are planning to
form them, while the US鈥檚 last effort expired more than four years ago.
鈥榃e continue to pay the ethical and economic costs of not being sufficiently
vigilant about the societal ramifications of biological research and medical
technology,鈥� says the office鈥檚 director, Roger Herdman.
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