Thanks for teacake

Some
readers of BioEdge
have inquired about the success of the editor’s six-week study tour,
aka holiday, in the US. To be honest, very little of it was devoted
directly to research in bioethics, although fiery discussions about
Obamacare were frequent.

However,
a very fruitful event was an invitation to the Kennedy
Institute of Ethics
at Georgetown University in Washington DC. As anyone interested in
bioethics knows, or ought to know, Georgetown is where bioethics all
began. Apparently the late Sargent Shriver coined the word
one evening in 1970 in a discussion about the future of an institute to be
founded at the university. Today the Institute claims to be the
world’s oldest and most comprehensive academic bioethics center.

Dr
Laura Bishop and her colleagues gave the editor a tour of the
library’s resources. He was convinced — it certainly is a treasure
for researchers, even
on the internet.
It is even possible to request a custom bibliography from the
library’s enormous collection of books, journals, reports and news
clippings. The afternoon’s hospitality culminated in a very cordial
gathering over coffee. BioEdge awarded a blue ribbon on the spot to
Dr Bishop for her teacake. So here’s our advice: if you are visiting DC, drop in on the Kennedy Institute of Ethics. If you are very, very polite, perhaps you will score some of that scrumptious teacake. 

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Michael Cook

Michael Cook edits BioEdge, a bioethics newsletter, and MercatorNet, an on-line magazine whose focus is human dignity. He writes from Sydney, Australia.

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