Presidents William J. Clinton and George W. Bush appointed panels to investigate, report, and make recommendations on ethical practices for research in several areas of biology and medicine, including stem cells. Both the Clinton Administration’s National Bioethics Advisory Commission and the Bush Administration’s President’s Council on Bioethics generated numerous useful reports on various issues, including the issues surrounding stem cell research. Naturally, these two presidents appointed committee members who looked at the problems from different philosophical and political leanings; not surprisingly, the two panels produced papers and reports that reflected their particular points of view. These differences make the material these panels generated particularly useful in understanding different viewpoints on stem cell research. The President’s Council on Bioethics Web site (www.bioethics.gov) has an archive of reports from the Clinton Administration’s panel (which you can access directly at http://bioethics.georgetown.edu/nbac) and several other similar boards, most of them available for download. Select Former Bioethics Commissions on the home page and scroll through the list of reports and recommendations.
