Bioethics Council Head Leon Kass Steps Down

Filed in archive Other Biotechnology News on September 14, 2005

The White House announced last week that Leon R. Kass, who heads the President's Council on Bioethics, will step down as chairman Oct. 1, to be replaced by Edmund Pellegrino, 85, a professor emeritus of medicine and medical ethics at Georgetown University Medical Center and a former president of Catholic University.

According to the Washington Post report:

Kass repeatedly denied that the ejections were politically motivated, but the image was difficult to shake, especially given his occasional open involvement in political frays.

"I think Leon went too far to engage himself in the politics of the topics the council considered, writing newspaper op-eds and going on the think-tank circuit," said Arthur Caplan, chairman of the department of medical ethics at the University of Pennsylvania Medical School. In several cases, Caplan said, Kass seemed to be pushing for a consensus that would be in line with the White House's preordained views on a topic.

"I think that may have damaged some of what he tried to accomplish," Caplan said.

Read the full report here.

How will this affect the biotech industry? We'll just have to wait and see.

Photo Credits: Univ of Chicago Chronicle