President Obama Requests Bioethics Commission to Play Early Role in BRAIN Initiative
WASHINGTON -- As part of the new Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies, or BRAIN Initiative, announced in April, President Barack Obama has asked the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues, chaired by University of Pennsylvania President Amy Gutmann, to play a critical role in ensuring that neuroscientific investigational methods, technologies and protocols are consistent with sound ethical principles and practices.
Penn Law Professor and Vice Provost for Faculty Anita Allen is also a member of the Commission.
Specifically the President has asked the Bioethics Commission to “identify proactively a set of core ethical standards – both to guide neuroscience research and to address some of the ethical dilemmas that may be raised by the application of neuroscience research findings.”
The Bioethics Commission will begin to discuss and deliberate these requests from the President at its public meeting on Aug.20 in Philadelphia, Pa.
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