Assembly Select Committee
on Bioethics, Medicine and
Technology
Michael Kalichman
University of California, San Diego
Director, UCSD Research Ethics Program
Co-Director, San Diego Center for Ethics in Science and
Technology
California Council on Science and Technology
Council Meeting
Sacramento, CA
February 2, 2006
Bioethics Focus Group
Meeting
December 2, 2005
Scripps Institution of Oceanography
Goal:
Priorities and parameters for the
Assembly Select Committee on
Bioethics and a statewide advisory
panel on bioethics
Bioethics Focus Group
Meeting
Participants
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Mildred K. Cho, Associate Director, Stanford University Center for
Biomedical Ethics
Lawrence Cooper, Legislative Director
Thomas Day, President Emeritus, San Diego State University
Danny DeCillis, Research Associate, California Council on Science and
Technology
Susan Hackwood, Executive Director, California Council on Science and
Technology
Sari Hamerling, Legislative Representative
Lawrence M. Hinman, Director, The Values Institute, University of San
Diego
Michael Kalichman, Director, Research Ethics Program, University of
California San Diego
Charles Kennel, Director, Scripps Institution of Oceanography
Jennifer Lahl, National Director of the Bay Area, Center for Bioethics and
Culture
Assembly Member Lori Saldaña
Framework for Bioethics
• Ethics
competing interests, minimize harms,
maximize benefits
• Approaches
Ethicists (who and what); Judges vs.
Facilitators
• Domains
Medical ethics, bioethics, research ethics,
science & technology ethics
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Some of the most challenging and
important problems of our time
California
• National leader in science and
technology
• Very little infrastructure in ethics
• Unlike other countries, U.S.
legislators only rarely have technical
backgrounds
• Stem cell initiative
What are the goals?
• Anticipate rather than merely react
• Opportunity for much needed
national leadership
(national issues, rarely addressed)
• Ethics as a part of rather than apart
from research
What are the problems?
Examples
• Pre-implantation and prenatal genetic diagnosis
• Therapy vs. enhancement
• Genetic technology and privacy
• Trust, fear, memory, truth
• Human-machine interface
• Buying and selling of eggs
• Social justice and new reproductive technologies
• Clinical research policy
• Research ethics education
What are the constraints?
• What limits should we place on these
new developments?
• What kind of society are we aiming
for?
• Resistance in research community
because:
a. poor understanding of public
b. poor reporting by media
What can we do?
• Training of researchers
• Education of public
• Increased dialogue involving
research community, public, and
media
• Central home for science &
technology policy in California
• Regulations: Prohibitions, guidelines
for conduct of research
Possible first steps for
Select Committee
• Town Hall meetings:
series of meetings around the state
to develop bioethics agenda
• Work groups:
bioethicists and researchers – what
do we have, what do we need?