Ethics committees must educate members
Ethics committees must educate members
Information is essential to genetic decisions
Essentially, most experts agree, the best thing that hospitals and their ethical decision-making bodies can do is become educated about genetic testing and advances in gene therapy and gene-based therapeutic approaches, says Maxwell J. Mehlman, JD, director of the Law-Medicine Center at Case Western Reserve University School of Law in Cleveland. A good base of information will be essential when making individual, case-based decisions and developing institutional guidelines.
Here’s a list of useful resources
Here is a list of resources to gain information on genetics, the Human Genome Project, and the ethical issues surrounding genetic testing and genetic therapies:
• Genetic Testing. An informational booklet published by the American Cancer Society. Contains a basic overview of genetics and genetic testing. Copies can be obtained by calling (800) 4-CANCER.
• The office of public policy at the National Human Genome Research Institute makes recommendations on public policy regarding genetic information. It also collects and interprets data gathered on the ethical, legal, and social issues (ELSI) related to the Human Genome Project. Address: National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Building 31, Room 4309, Bethesda, MD 20892-2152. The Web site URL is: http:// www.nhgri.nih.gov.
• Information on the Human Genome Project has been collected on the Human Genome Project Information Web site on the Oak Ridge National Laboratories server at http://www.ornl.gov/TechResources/ Human Genome/home.html.
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