July 4, 2008

Both Ethical and Relevant

To the Editor:

Richard Monastersky's "Bioethics Crisis Looms Unless NIH Changes Course, Critics Warn" (The Chronicle, online edition, June 4) laments the dearth of bioethicists from a new generation. The suggestions for a fix that he reports include a national agenda, consistency, and a mechanism to pay for bioethics training and research. These suggestions, while valid, do not address the core issue of relevancy.

The American Society for Bioethics and Humanities promotes, as