It is a little hard to discern exactly what she is so unhappy about, but she seems to think that ELSI should have promulgated policies that resolve all the potential dilemmas posed by the explosion of knowledge about genetics. As members of the ELSI Research Program Evaluation Group who spent a lot of time analyzing the external portfolios of the two programs, we would like to respond to some of the criticisms and frank misrepresentations raised in Ms. Lehrman's article. Given the nature of our government, it is frankly illusory to think that the ELSI research program could ever have been a potent force for policy making.
Policy is made in our country by the legislative and executive branches of our government.
Neither is in any position to alter the laws regarding insurance or employment discrimination which are within the purview of completely different departments of the Executive Branch or to affect the activities of the Department of Justice. Congress could have chosen to create a think tank to assist it in addressing the implications of genetics, as it had in the Office of Technology Assessment before its demise, but it chose not to do that. The idea that the ELSI Working Group in particular could ever have been involved in promulgating policy is ludicrous, given its lack of public accountability. Our system of governance, appropriately, would not permit that. It is also worth noting that no one , neither federal nor state government, has been able to solve the problem of discrimination in access to health insurance.