What is a human life worth?

For centuries, that question has been asked in the context of the cost of keeping people alive. In recent years, however, it has expanded to include the value of creating people in other than the natural manner–the “businesses” of sperm donation, artificial insemination, in-vitro fertilization, and cloning.

Now the issue has broadened yet again. What about the “business”–now a $3 billion per year trade–of women selling their eggs? (Heartland Institute)

Does Botox get into the brain? Troubling research contradicts earlier findings about the treatment. (Newsweek)

The U.S. program to help elderly people pay for medicines has made them less likely to trim spending on things like food and housing to buy drugs, but the sickest still skip medications due to cost. (Reuters)

Congress reached an agreement clearing the way for a bill to prohibit discrimination by employers and health insurers on the basis of genetic tests. (New York Times)

The Irish Council for Bioethics has given its qualified backing to the contentious practice of stem-cell research. (Belfast Telegraph)