It is the mission of the Witherspoon Council on Ethics and the Integrity of Science to study the fundamental human and moral significance of modern science and technology, as well as the questions of policy, law, and politics raised by scientific and technological advancement. The Council is charged with focusing especially on the ethical and policy questions related to the human life sciences, including medicine, biotechnology, genetics, assisted reproductive technologies, embryo research, and neuroscience. Members of the Council include top expert researchers together with respected voices from philosophy, theology, and law. Through its publications and conferences, the Council aims to facilitate a greater public understanding of the moral, social, and political implications of science and technology.

Rationale
America's biotechnological achievements have been both indisputable and impressive, strengthening our nation and improving the lives of people the world over. At the same time, advances in biological science bring many novel burdens and dilemmas, especially the potential to violate human dignity. Our growing understanding of and power over human biological development make possible new research into cures for serious diseases but also open the door to cloning, a new eugenics, and the institutionalized farming and destruction of nascent human life. The boundless American confidence in progress and in our ability to solve technical challenges has given rise to a widespread technocratic mindset that believes that human life can and should be scientifically managed. This is the paradox of progress: better health alongside mass death; greater ease creating fresh unease; new life prompting new questions about the meaning of life; a democratic republic that cradles a spirit of scientific statism.

Many of the pressing questions facing policymakers today relate to science, technology, and the dignity of human life more so than ever before, as befits the modern age. Novel discoveries and inventions will raise new questions of policy and law. And because of the centrality of biology in our understanding of the human person, biotechnology raises some of the deepest questions of ethics and philosophy.

The aim of the Council is to help all of us to think more clearly about the burdens and blessings of modern biotechnology, both in our national politics and our everyday life; to help us avoid the extremes of euphoria and despair that new technologies too often arouse; and to help us judge when mobilizing our technological prowess is sensible or necessary, and when the preservation of the things that matter most requires limiting the kinds of technological power that would lessen, cheapen, or ultimately destroy us. It will take up the questions raised by biotechnology: questions of human meaning and dignity that have a direct bearing on critical policy decisions.

The Stem Cell Debates: Lessons from Science and Politics
In its inaugural report, the Witherspoon Council on Ethics and the Integrity of Science considers the proper relationship between science, ethics, and politics by examining the most prominent science-related controversy of the past decade: the stem cell debates. These debates touched on fundamental questions concerning the governance of science and the moral status of embryonic human life. More than just a scholarly assessment of those debates, this report seeks to improve the public understanding of how science and democratic politics relate, including the responsibilities of scientists and policymakers. We consider the inevitable interplay between science and ethics and the conflicts of interest that arise when scientists are both advisors to policymakers and petitioners for their allocations. Among the reports most crucial lessons is that, in our system of participatory republican government, we are responsible for considering not only the potential benefits of scientific research but also the ethical implications of that research.