Sir

Further to your News item about a report being prepared by the National Bioethics Advisory Commission on research involving human biological materials, which prompted some correspondence (Nature 391, 314 & 392, 14; 1998), I should like to emphasize that the commissioners are still discussing this issue and have neither reached conclusions nor made recommendations.

What do exist are working drafts prepared by staff, papers commissioned by various experts and testimony by the public and professional groups. Speculation about “likely” recommendations is therefore premature.

The commission expects to receive another staff draft in time for its next meeting on 19-20 May in Cleveland, Ohio. We intend to make this draft available to the public on our Web site (http://www.bioethics.gov) before the meeting. The commission is planning to co mplete and distribute an interim report in the early spring. By distributing these documents widely, the commission hopes to benefit from public and professional comment before issuing a final report.