Leon R Kass

The man named by President Bush to chair a national advisory council on stem cell research is a staunch opponent of physician-assisted suicide, human cloning and the sale of human organs for transplants. For Bush, who said he consulted with dozens of scientists, politicians, doctors, theologians and others before deciding to allow limited use of federal funds for stem cell research, Leon R. Kass stood out as the best choice for a tough job.

A year and a half ago, when President Bush named Leon R. Kass to chair the President's Council on Bioethics, a national advisory council created to explore the moral implications of human cloning, stem cell research and similar scientific advances, the reaction was mixed. In spite of his reputation and original intellect, Kass, a biomedical ethicist and professor at the University of Chicago, had frequently spoken out on the perils of modern medical advances.

A year and a half ago, when President Bush named Leon R. Kass to chair the President's Council on Bioethics, a national advisory council created to explore the moral implications of human cloning, stem cell research and similar scientific advances, the reaction was mixed. In spite of his reputation and original intellect, Kass, a biomedical ethicist and professor at the University of Chicago, had frequently spoken out on the perils of modern medical advances.

The man named by President Bush to chair a national advisory council on stem cell research is a staunch opponent of physician-assisted suicide, human cloning and the sale of human organs for transplants. For Bush, who said he consulted with dozens of scientists, politicians, doctors, theologians and others before deciding to allow limited use of federal funds for stem cell research, Leon R. Kass stood out as the best choice for a tough job.

Imagine what it's like to open the newspaper (as I did Friday morning) and read that scientists in South Korea have made a huge breakthrough toward curing a disease that is slowly wrecking your life. But your own government is trying to prevent that cure. Other nations are racing for the leadership role in stem cell research that the United States has abandoned. And states such as California are defying the federal near-ban. So it seems unlikely that U.S.

It's not the way your typical presidential commission begins deliberating on a weighty policy question--spending an hour or so on a 156-year-old short story by Nathaniel Hawthorne. But then, if Leon R. Kass has his way, President Bush's newly formed Council on Bioethics won't be your typical federal advisory panel. In Washington, such bodies are often used to cool political hot potatoes. They listen to all sides, deliberate for a year and file a lengthy report that can be safely forgotten.

Cloning to reproduce humans is currently unsafe and should be illegal, but cloning to produce stem cells for medical research has "considerable potential" and should be permitted, a National Academy of Sciences panel said Friday. The recommendation by some of the nation's top scientists could prove influential as senators, many of whom are undecided on human cloning, prepare to debate whether to join the House in banning the technique for any purpose.

Venturing off the map into waters deep and uncharted, Washington state may soon become the first jurisdiction in America, the first in the Western World, where citizens can hasten their own impending deaths with the assistance of their doctors, legally. "Death with Dignity" is what Initiative 119's grass-roots sponsors call their November ballot proposition.

The 20th Century has witnessed an unprecedented expansion of scientific knowledge. It has also seen episodes of human- rights abuse unparalleled both in magnitude and cruelty.