The bill, described by Sen. Edward Kennedy as “the first major new civil rights bill of the new century,” would bar health insurance companies from using genetic information to set premiums or determine enrollment eligibility. Similarly, employers could not use genetic information in hiring, firing or promotion decisions. (AP)

The monthly discomfort many women see as a curse could pay off someday as Japanese researchers say menstrual blood can be used to repair heart damage. (AFP)

Now chemists have infused cotton gauze with nanoparticles, giving it a vastly improved ability to halt blood loss — even in tight spots like the neck or groin where it’s hard to apply pressure. The new material could help save lives on the battlefield and in civilian situations, where trauma victims often bleed to death before they can be transported to a hospital or other medical facility. (Wired)

Pharmacist Neil Noesen, who faces punishment for refusing to refill a woman’s birth control prescription, asks the Wisconsin Supreme Court to consider his case. (The Daily Cardinal)

Sound familiar? From the News to the New Haven Register, this and similar ads for egg donors have appeared in the pages of local newspapers, attempting to lure intelligent Yale women with sums ranging from $5,000 to $100,000. (Yale Daily News)

The bill, which appeared ready to clear a Senate committee last week after introduction last year, has been slowed by the complex debate among lawmakers trying to balance medical ethics and Ohio’s economic development. Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland opposes the bill, and a narrower proposal two years ago did not pass the Republican-controlled Legislature. (Akron Beacon Journal)