Public Meeting of the President's Council on Bioethics on December 8-9, 2005

AGENCY:

The President's Council on Bioethics, HHS.

ACTION:

Notice.

SUMMARY:

The President's Council on Bioethics (Edmund D. Pellegrino, MD, Chairman) will hold its twenty-second meeting, at which, among other things, it will discuss ethical issues relating to children. Subjects discussed at past Council meetings (though not on the agenda for the present one) include: Cloning, assisted reproduction, reproductive genetics, IVF, ICSI, PGD, sex selection, inheritable genetic modification, patentability of human organisms, neuroscience, aging retardation, lifespan-extension, and organ procurement for transplantation. Publications issued by the Council to date include: Human Cloning and Human Dignity: An Ethical Inquiry (July 2002); Beyond Therapy: Biotechnology and the Pursuit of Happiness (October 2003); Being Human: Readings from the President's Council on Bioethics (December 2003); Monitoring Stem Cell Research (January 2004), Reproduction and Responsibility: The Regulation of New Biotechnologies (March 2004), Alternative Sources of Human Pluripotent Stem Cells: A White Paper (May 2005), and Taking Care: Ethical Caregiving in Our Aging Society (September 2005).

DATES:

The meeting will take place Thursday, December 8, 2005, from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. ET; and Friday, December 9, 2005, from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. ET.

ADDRESSES:

City Center Hotel, 1143 New Hampshire Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20037. Phone 202-775-0800.

Agenda: The meeting agenda will be posted at http://www.bioethics.gov .

Public Comments: The Council encourages public input, either in person or in writing. At this meeting, interested members of the public may address the Council, beginning at 11:30 a.m., on Friday, December 9. Comments are limited to no more than five minutes per speaker or organization. As a courtesy, please inform Ms. Diane Gianelli, Director of Communications, in advance of your intention to make a public statement, and give your name and affiliation. To submit a written statement, mail or e-mail it to Ms. Gianelli at one of the addresses given below.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Ms. Diane Gianelli, Director of Communications, The President's Council on Bioethics, Suite 700, 1801 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, DC 20006. Telephone: 202/296-4669. E-mail: info@bioethics.gov. Web site: http://www.bioethics.gov .