Dwayne C. Brown
Headquarters, Washington, DC                April 25, 1996
(Phone:  202/358-1600)

Ann Hutchison
Ames Research Center, Mountain View, CA
(Phone:  415/604-4968)

RELEASE:  96-79

INDEPENDENT TASK FORCE FORMED TO REVIEW BION MISSION

     Ronald Merrell, M.D., Chairman, Department of Surgery, Yale
University, New Haven, CT, will chair an independent task 
force which will review the ethical integrity of the science 
to be performed on the upcoming Bion 11 and 12 missions.

     The task force was formed by the NASA Advisory Council at
the request of NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin.  The task
force's membership and schedule were reviewed at the council's 
meeting today at NASA Headquarters.

     The Bion program is a cooperative space venture among the U.S.,
Russian and French space agencies for the conduct of biomedical research using
Russian-owned rhesus monkeys.  Bion 11 is expected to launch from Russia in
September 1996 and has a mission duration of approximately 14 days.  Bion 12
is scheduled for launch from Russia in 1998.  Both Russian spacecraft are
uncrewed and retrievable.

     Goldin asked that a prompt and thorough review be done to determine
whether the Bion missions meet NASA's requirements that the 
highest of ethical standards be met during all phases of 
these missions, and that the Bion science is of the highest integrity.

     Specifically, the task force will review:   the integrity of the science
plan for the mission; assure that there are no alternative 
means for obtaining the information provided by these 
experiments; and review the Bion Program for ethical and 
humane animal treatment during all phases of the mission.  
The task force will formally report its recommendations to the 
NASA Advisory Council by the end of July 1996.

     Other panel members selected thus far are:  Tom L. 
Beauchamp, Ph.D., Georgetown University, Washington, DC; 
Jeffrey Borer, M.D., Cornell University Medical Center, New 
York, NY; Bonnie Beaver, D.V.M., Texas A&M University, 
College Station, TX; Michael Katovich, Ph.D., University of 
Florida, Gainesville, FL; Marjorie Lees, Ph.D., Eunice 
Kennedy Shriver Center, Waltham, MA; Franklin M. Loew, 
D.V.M., Ph.D., Cornell University, Ithaca, NY; Chester M. 
Pierce, M.D., Harvard University, Cambridge, MA; James B. 
Snow, Jr., M.D., National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, 
MD; Robert Whitney, D.V.M., Steilacoom, WA and Commander 
Lorenzo York, U.S.N. Chaplain, Uniformed Services University 
of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD.  Gary B. Ellis, Ph.D. 
is the liaison for the National Institutes of Health's 
Office for Protection from Research Risks, Rockville, MD.  

                    -end-

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