Since its inception, the U.S. human spaceflight program has grown from launching a single man into orbit to an ongoing space presence involving numerous crewmembers. As the U.S. space program evolves, propelled in part by increasing international and commercial collaborations, long duration or exploration spaceflights - such as extended stays on the International Space Station or missions to Mars - become more realistic. These types of missions will likely expose crews to levels of known risk that are beyond those allowed by current health standards, as well as to a range of risks that are poorly characterized, uncertain, and perhaps unforeseeable. As the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and Congress discuss the next generation of NASA's missions and the U.S. role in international space efforts, it is important to understand the ethical factors that drive decision making about health standards and mission design for NASA activities. NASA asked the Institute of Medicine to outline the ethics principles and practices that should guide the agency's decision making for future long duration or exploration missions that fail to meet existing health standards. Health Standards for Long Duration and Exploration Spaceflight identifies an ethics framework, which builds on the work of NASA and others, and presents a set of recommendations for ethically assessing and responding to the challenges associated with health standards for long duration and exploration spaceflight.As technologies improve and longer and more distant spaceflight becomes feasible, NASA and its international and commercial partners will continue to face complex decisions about risk acceptability. This report provides a roadmap for ethically assessing and responding to the challenges associated with NASA's health standards for long duration and exploration missions. Establishing and maintaining a firmly grounded ethics framework for this inherently risky activity is essential to guide NASA's decisions today and to create a strong foundation for decisions about future challenges and opportunities. Table of Contents Front Matter Summary 1 Introduction 2 NASA Risk Management and Health Standards 3 Health Risks 4 Risk Acceptance and Responsibilities in Human Spaceflight and Terrestrial Activities 5 Recommendations for Ethics Principles 6 Recommendations for Ethics Responsibilities and Decision Framework Appendix A: Meeting Agendas Appendix B: Committee Biographical Sketches

Mitochondrial replacement techniques (MRTs) are designed to prevent the transmission of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) diseases from mother to child. While MRTs, if effective, could satisfy a desire of women seeking to have a genetically related child without the risk of passing on mtDNA disease, the technique raises significant ethical and social issues. It would create offspring who have genetic material from two women, something never sanctioned in humans, and would create mitochondrial changes that could be heritable (in female offspring), and therefore passed on in perpetuity. The manipulation would be performed on eggs or embryos, would affect every cell of the resulting individual, and once carried out this genetic manipulation is not reversible. Mitochondrial Replacement Techniques considers the implications of manipulating mitochondrial content both in children born to women as a result of participating in these studies and in descendants of any female offspring. This study examines the ethical and social issues related to MRTs, outlines principles that would provide a framework and foundation for oversight of MRTs, and develops recommendations to inform the Food and Drug Administration's consideration of investigational new drug applications. Table of Contents Front Matter Summary 1 Introduction 2 Science and Policy Context 3 Do Ethical, Social, and Policy Considerations Preclude MRT? 4 Regulation and Oversight of MRT in Humans Appendix A: Study Approach Appendix B: Summary of MRT Research Appendix C: Biosketches of Committee Members

How has Russia's political elite struggled to build a federal system of government out of the rubble of the Soviet empire?  This ground-breaking book examines the public debates, official documents, and political deals that built Russia's federal house, and analyzes the strength of its troubled foundation.

As the technology for regulating travel has evolved from passports and rubber stamps to include retina scans and digital databases, the bureaucratic structure of the American system for regulating international travel has grown from a small office in Washington, DC, to a highly sophisticated network spanning the globe. The U.S. government now controls a web of surveillance---from extra frisks at airport security to complete bans on travel by sea or air---with the potential to snare almost anyone. These programs are top secret, and the names on the No Fly List are classified. There is no notice and no appeal. In tracing the history and scope of U.S. travel regulations, Jeffrey Kahn begins with the fascinating story of Mrs. Shipley, a federal employee who almost single-handedly controlled access to passports during the Cold War. He questions how far national security policies should go and whether the government should be able to declare some individuals simply too dangerous to travel. An expert on constitutional law, Kahn argues that U.S. citizens' freedom to leave the country and return is a fundamental right, protected by the Constitution.