November 30, 2006
Animal rights law professor and vegan activist Gary Francione has now weighed in at some length in his Blog about Peter Singer and his support for invasive brain research using monkeys. It is very hard hitting, and, it seems to … Read More
November 30, 2006
I thought it was pretty significant that Peter Singer endorsed research on monkeys, and very invasive research at that–brain experiments. But the American media ignored the story, so I decided to kick up a little dust. I was quite impressed … Read More
November 30, 2006
That’s the finding of a new study in the Nov. 30 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. The researchers also found that the vast majority of review board members surveyed — 85.5 percent — believed that industry ties … Read More
November 30, 2006
It is harder to get an organ transplant in Japan than almost anywhere else in the world. The problem is not a lack of funds or technology, but a lack of donors. (BBC)
November 30, 2006
Medicare beneficiaries enrolled in private, managed care plans cost the government 12.4 percent more than those in the traditional program last year, for a total cost of more than $5.2 billion, according to a study released Thursday. (AP)
November 30, 2006
Australia’s Parliament began debating a bill Thursday that would lift the country’s ban on cloning human embryos for stem cell research. (International Herald Tribune)
November 30, 2006
One in 50 babies born through IVF in Australia is stillborn or dies within a month of birth — twice the rate of babies conceived naturally, new figures have revealed. (The West Australian)
November 29, 2006
Oxford professor Nick Bostrom, one of the leading lights of the transhumanist movement, has a new paper out (“In Defense of Post Human Dignity”) in which he argues that there is no need to fear the post human future if … Read More
November 29, 2006
Lesley Stahl reports on a controversial treatment using the pill Propranolol to help suppress traumatic memories. Video (4:07).
November 29, 2006
A young woman, confined to a wheelchair, is told to think about moving another wheelchair in front of her, first to the left and then forward. (MSNBC)
November 29, 2006
This is wonderful news and demonstrates the great potential for morally uncontentious stem cell research. But don’t expect the media or politicians to notice. There is campaign money in them thar embryonic stem cell hills. Big Biotech has spent many … Read More
November 29, 2006
Hoping to send a warning to organ transplant centers nationwide, the federal government said Tuesday that it would pull funding from two heart programs that failed to meet its minimum performance standards. A third center agreed to forgo federal money … Read More
November 29, 2006
Inmaculada Echevarria has spent much of her life watching muscular dystrophy ruin her body. She’s been in a hospital bed for 20 years, her movements are now reduced to wiggling her fingers and toes and she wants to die. (Newsday)
November 29, 2006
he Ministry of Health (MoH) is considering a ban on private blood cord centres in the country following criticism by experts and demands from various quarters that sensitive issues should be handled only by the government. (Khaleej Times)
November 29, 2006
The same embryonic stem cell bill that prompted President Bush’s only veto is headed to his desk again, this time from Democrats who have it atop their agenda when they take control of Congress in January. (Los Angeles Times)
November 29, 2006
Simply trusting that scientists are telling the truth is not enough when it comes to vetting blockbuster research. That appears to be the bottom line of an independent committee that reported today that Science could have more aggressively examined two … Read More
November 29, 2006
Fraudulent stem cell reports that shook the scientific world could have been prevented by extra review procedures, according to a panel appointed by the journal that published the claims. (New York Times)
November 29, 2006
The disgraced cloning “pioneerâ€, South Korean Hwang Woo-suk, hopes to “resume human embryonic stem cell research as soon as possible†despite serious scandals surrounding his work and the revoking of his licence as national researcher. This was confirmed yesterday by … Read More
November 29, 2006
Britain’s position as the world leader in stem cell technology is in serious jeopardy because of a lack of funding, one of the country’s leading scientists said yesterday. (Telegraph)
November 29, 2006
While the nanotechnology sector is having no problems creating new companies and finding new employees, it is running into problems with the U.S. Patent Office. Because it can take up to four years to process patent applications, nanotechnology entrepreneurs and … Read More
November 28, 2006
A Genetic Bill of Rights–From Lori Andrews, a professor at Chicago-Kent College of Law, who chaired the federal ethics advisory committee to the Human Genome Project. * You should have the right to refuse genetic testing and not to disclose … Read More
November 28, 2006
My new podcast is now available. In it, I discuss the dangers of personhood theory and its potential lethal consequences. If you are of a mind, check it out.
November 28, 2006
Apparently the first patient to receive a “face transplant” is doing well. Good. I never understood what all the fuss was about anyway. If we can transplant livers and kidneys from cadavers, why not facial flesh?
November 28, 2006
Mercatornet.com focuses on reproductive health with a trio of articles that are, as always, excellent: Physician, heal thyself By Josephine Quintavalle From the sexual and reproductive chaos of Europe comes a cry for the continent to lead a new birth … Read More
November 28, 2006
There was a wonderful article published in the Times of London by a father and the parenting of a child with Down syndrome. I thought of writing about it here, but thought the best place for it would be over … Read More
