February 2012 - Beth El Synagogue

a message from our president `iypdn
How Beth El Synagogue Helped Change the World
by Gil Mann, Beth El President
“OMG! (Oh My God!)” I sat up in bed
and could barely believe my eyes. I was
reading the paper before going to sleep.
My clock read 2:00 a.m., (I stay up kinda
late.)
The headline from the Washington Post
said that the NIH (the National Institute of Health) was banning
almost all research involving Chimpanzees! I was pretty sure
Beth El was connected to this story.
Reading on, sure enough, just as I suspected, I found the name
Dr. Jeff Kahn, chair of the NIH funded study committee. I was so
excited and had no one to tell -- everyone I knew was asleep!
Jeff, his wife Orlee and their boys Ben and Danny have been
members of Beth El for about 15 years. Last summer, Jeff was
selected for a dream appointment, an endowed professorship at
the Berman Bioethics Institute at Johns Hopkins University.
And so, his family left Minneapolis and Beth El with sadness, but
also with excitement for his esteemed new position. Shortly
before leaving, Jeff told me he had been asked to chair this NIH
study committee on chimpanzee research.
He told me that he had seen Dr. Jane Goodall’s speech, “A
Reason For Hope,” at Beth El two years ago in our first Inspiring
Minds Lecture Series. He was so taken by her presentation that
he felt her appearing at a public forum for his committee in
Washington DC, would be invaluable. He had only a matter of
weeks before the forum.
As a result of her appearance at Beth El, he was able to speak
with Jane and arrange for her to present in DC via satellite videoconference
from England.
After reading the news in the paper, I was eager to speak with Jeff
and Jane to learn more details and I called them both. Jeff
explained to me that Congress had mandated a study on chimpanzee
research to “assess the scientific necessity of using
chimps in biomedical and behavioral research.” The committee
was formed by the prestigious Institute of Medicine (IOM) and
charged to make policy recommendations to the NIH.
The committee was made up of 15 people. Fourteen of these individuals
had backgrounds in science and medicine. Jeff was an
exception, as his expertise is bioethics. The committee felt that
there was an obvious ethical dimension to the question they were
investigating, even though an analysis of ethics was not part of
their charge from NIH. They felt so strongly about this, that they
chose Jeff to chair the committee.
The committee considered many bodies of data. One
was Jane Goodall’s world famous research of chimpanzees
in the wild. Jeff told me that when he heard
Jane’s presentation at Beth El, her mere presence was
almost akin to an aura. “She exuded a presence of
stature and credibility.” So much so, that he wanted his
committee to see and hear her.
He added that when she spoke at Beth El, he was
impressed by the size of the audience (over 1500 people)
and the respect and complete silence she commanded
as she spoke.
He experienced the same reaction to Jane when she
spoke before his committee on a large screen in a
forum open to the public. Jeff described her as bringing
a unique gravitas. He felt the committee was impressed
by her perspective and years of experience and
research in the field.
After considering data from many additional sources,
the committee concluded, “most current uses of chimpanzees
for biomedical research are unnecessary.”
They recognized the importance of saving human life
and did not rule out future research using chimpanzees,
but found, that there are just a few justifiable reasons to
use chimps for medical research today. He pointed out
that the European Union adopted a similar position
some years ago.
Jeff explained to me that today, and certainly into the
future, there are numerous effective ways to conduct
research that will protect and prolong human health
without the need to use chimpanzees. Policy recommendations
were established to guide any future
research using chimps that can be read on pages 6 & 7
at www.tinyurl.com/6phan43
He was most proud to say that the NIH Director accepted
and adopted the committee’s recommendations
almost immediately – a rare impact of such work.
I asked him what guided his personal thinking on this
question. He said that his philosophical training,
together with his Jewish values led to his acceptance of
the ethic, that humans have dominion over animals --
that the use of animals by humans is acceptable and
appropriate.
Continued on the next page
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