DETERMINING THE ETHICS OF A BRAVE NEW WORLD

When and how should scientists conduct research on human embryos? Ronald Green, the director of Dartmouth's Ethics Institute and the John Phillips professor of religion, is helping answer that question for the nation. He was appointed in January to the National Institutes of Health's Human Embryo Research Panel. The group is to propose guidelines for federally funded research.

The 19-member panel, which is made up of lawyers, doctors, and ethical philosophers, will study the ethical and scientific aspects of such Brave New World issues as genetic cloning, the possibility of animal-human hybrids, and the morality of paying women to produce research embryos. "This panel must be very careful not to frustrate basic research that must be done, but also to protect the human subjects it will affect," Green said. He was chosen for his expertise in ethics and religion, and his experience on an NIH panel studying the human genome project.

Dartmouth students will benefit from Green's experiences in a course on assisted reproduction sponsored by the Ethics Institute next year. "By next year I'll be something of an expert Green said. "I hope to bring my students an insider's view of what's going on in Washington." Jordy Urstadt '95