January 19, 2007
A broad coalition of business and consumer groups, doctors, hospitals and drug companies laid out a major proposal on Thursday to provide health coverage to more than half of the nation’s 47 million uninsured by expanding federal benefit programs and … Read More
January 19, 2007
A Las Vegas doctor has been implanting stem cells harvested from placentas into patients with multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy and other diseases in violation of federal law, according to a warning letter released by health officials Thursday. (AP)
January 19, 2007
Neuroscientists usually scan people’s brains looking for tumors or aneurysms or to localize the extent of physical trauma. But in a series of experiments performed at New York University a few years ago, scientists went looking for racism. (TIME)
January 19, 2007
This means doctors are taking this flawed research and using it as the basis of treatment for cancer patients — treatments that may adversely affect patient outcomes. (HealthDay)
January 19, 2007
Breast cancer patients who are either obese or poorly educated are more likely to get lower-than-optimal doses of chemotherapy, U.S. researchers reported on Thursday. (MSNBC)
January 19, 2007
The reports are the most comprehensive to look at the costs of birth defects in at least 10 years, experts said. They also will give many families their first real idea of the expense of a baby born with serious … Read More
January 19, 2007
Imagine this: Five men are working on a railroad track and they don’t hear an out-of-control trolley barreling toward them. The trolley certainly will kill them. You, however, happen to be standing next to a switch that, if pulled, would … Read More
January 19, 2007
Embryonic stem cell research advocates correctly observe that the hundreds of thousands of surplus embryos created during in vitro fertilization will only be thrown away. (Home News Tribune)
January 19, 2007
For a generation, American politics has largely been frozen in place when it comes to so-called “reproductive issues.” Abortion has been the keystone holding up a number of related positions, from euthanasia to embryonic stem cell research, with self-described pro-lifers … Read More
January 18, 2007
ACT, which claimed falsely to have created ES cell lines without actually destroying embryos, has gotten itself in the news again: This time to tout receipt of a $204,000 NIH grant to conduct embryonic stem cell research. As usual, the … Read More
January 18, 2007
Legislation has been introduced in Nebraska to outlaw all human cloning. And guess what? Unlike the deceptive Amendment 2, the legislation defines human cloning in a scientifically accurate manner. Maybe the reporters and editorialists of the Kansas City Star will … Read More
January 18, 2007
The mainstream bioethicists are mightily ticked because National Review’s Ramesh Ponurru (and others) resist their perceived wisdom on ESCR funding and ethics. But in attacking Ponurru, they bit off more than they can chew. In his usual methodical manner, the … Read More
January 18, 2007
I received an e-mail from Lenore Dixon, Andrea Clark’s sister. Readers of Secondhand Smoke will recall that Clark was the woman who was the subject of a fight over the attempt to terminate wanted life-sustaining treatment. Her family was treated … Read More
January 18, 2007
Laws on stem cell research have led to widely differing rules covering women who agree to donate – discriminating against women undergoing abortion, experts warned today. (Staff Nurse)
January 18, 2007
An international team of ophthalmologists has expressed grave concern over stem cell transplant procedures used by doctors in India and some other countries for preventing blindness. (Gulf Times)
January 18, 2007
After more than two years of negotiations, a diverse group of business, consumer and health care organizations will announce a plan on Thursday to dramatically reduce the estimated 47 million Americans without health insurance. (Times Leader)
January 18, 2007
An international team of scientists is developing what they say will be the world’s first microrobot — as wide as two human hairs — that can swim through the arteries and digestive system. (Wired)
January 18, 2007
Drug companies increasingly are reaching legal settlements that delay the introduction of cheaper generic medicines and cheat Americans of billions of dollars a year in savings, federal regulators on Wednesday told lawmakers seeking to ban the agreements. (MSNBC)
January 18, 2007
President Bush on Wednesday urged Congress to pass long-stalled legislation to safeguard genetic privacy, a measure experts say would encourage millions of Americans to undergo testing that could lead to prevention and treatment of cancer and other diseases. (New York … Read More
January 17, 2007
As promised, I have now read “Attenuating Growth in Children with Profound Developmental Disability” in the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine (2006;160:1013-1017), written by the doctors who kept Ashley a “pillow angel.” (HT Susan Nunes) It is very disturbing. … Read More
January 17, 2007
…how we can continue to advance technology without needlessly subjecting society to more thalidomide babies or Chernobyl melt-downs? (MSNBC)
January 17, 2007
They have chosen the egg and sperm donors after seeing details of their race, education, appearance and personality, along with a series of pictures showing them as a baby, teenager and adult. (Daily Mail)
January 17, 2007
University of Minnesota stem cell researchers, together with collaborators at Stanford University, have successfully used adult stem cells to replace the immune system and bone marrow of mice, offering the promise of new therapies for people in the future. (Medical … Read More
January 17, 2007
A British disability charity is trying to ensure that an “Ashley X case” could not happen to a child in the UK. (BBC)
January 17, 2007
Amid ethical concerns over DNA tests, the government yesterday released a set of new regulations to ban or restrict genetic tests in 20 categories. (The Korea Herald)
