March 19, 2007
Australian scientists are one step closer to being allowed to clone human embryos after a federal health agency approved guidelines governing ethics of the research. (Sydney Morning Herald)
March 19, 2007
UK scientists believe in the future they will be curing babies in the womb of serious diseases with the use of gene therapy. The work is controversial not just because of the ethics but also safety concerns. (BBC)
March 19, 2007
The number of kidneys, livers and other body parts surgeons are harvesting through a controversial approach to organ donation has started to rise rapidly, a trend that is saving the lives of more waiting patients but, some say, risks sacrificing … Read More
March 19, 2007
Ms. Moser was 23. It had taken her months to convince the clinic at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center in Manhattan that she wanted, at such a young age, to find out whether she carried the gene for Huntington’s … Read More
March 19, 2007
Viruses are also the most common carrier vehicles in gene therapy. Having been genetically altered to carry normal human DNA, they deliver the therapeutic genes to the patient’s target cells. These viruses infect cells, deposit their DNA payloads, and take … Read More
March 19, 2007
Science may soon allow you to predict – and even alter – the sexual orientation of your unborn child. If that happens, no matter what you believe about gay rights or abortion, life will never be the same. (St. Petersburg … Read More
March 19, 2007
Coroner’s conclusion won’t halt probes into whether a doctor tried to hasten the demise. The San Luis Obispo County sheriff-coroner has concluded that a 26-year-old potential organ donor died of natural causes, complicating a criminal inquiry into whether a transplant … Read More
March 19, 2007
Last year, a widely distributed report from the group Save the Children, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, tied the United States with Malta and Slovakia for the second-worst infant-mortality rate among developed nations (at about six per … Read More
March 17, 2007
I have been reading Ralph Nader’s The Seventeen Traditions, his autobiographical reflection on his parents, siblings, and upbringing. I know Ralph’s family pretty well. His sisters are as formidable as he is and his nieces and nephew are just as … Read More
March 16, 2007
The California HealthCare Foundation has issued an important report revealing that minorities receive much less effective end-of-life and palliative care than do whites. This study is important in its own right, but let us contemplate what it means in the … Read More
March 16, 2007
Bioethicists Art Caplan and Michael A. Devita have written an important column warning against plans that are afoot to increase the organ supply, but which if enacted, would instead be more likely to undermine the already thin crust of trust … Read More
March 16, 2007
This story reveals an awful lot about the current state of Chinese society. A paralyzed woman wants euthanasia because she wants to die before her parents. Here’s why: I must die before my parents; otherwise I will live a miserable … Read More
March 16, 2007
A French doctor was convicted of euthanizing a cancer patient. Good. According to the BBC report, she was given a suspended sentence, after stating that she decided to resort to a lethal injection after Druais had told her that she … Read More
March 16, 2007
Should your doctors’ pay be based on how well they care for you? Health insurers, including the federally funded Medicare system, think so. (Chicago Tribune)
March 16, 2007
Japanese scientists have succeeded in cloning mouse embryos from unfertilised eggs, a breakthrough that could help resolve the passionate ethical debate about stem cell research. (Zee News)
March 16, 2007
To hear British scientist Dr. Monty Mythens explain his upcoming experiment, it sounds more like a vacation than research. (ABC News)
March 16, 2007
A French doctor has been given a one-year suspended jail term for poisoning a terminally ill woman. (BBC)
March 16, 2007
A Los Angeles fertility clinic has launched what it says is the first dedicated program for gay men wanting to become parents. (CNN)
March 16, 2007
The problem of efficiently delivering drugs, especially those that are hydrophobic or water-repellant, to tumors or other disease sites has long challenged scientists to develop innovative delivery systems that keep these drugs intact until reaching their targets. (ScienceDaily)
March 16, 2007
The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) in the UK has released a new report entitled “Nanotechnology: From the Science to the Social”, by Professor Stephen Wood, Professor Richard Jones and Alison Geldart. (Nanowerk)
March 15, 2007
Dr. Albert Mohler, a national Christian leader, advocated in his blog a few weeks ago for what can only be described as the eugenic manipulation of fetuses–if and when it becomes possible–to prevent the babies from being homosexual. The blog … Read More
March 15, 2007
For years, scientists have tried to develop a universal theory of everything. Steven Hawking predicts that such a theory will be discovered in the next 20 years. A new theory asserts that biology, not physics, will be the key to … Read More
March 15, 2007
A bedridden Spanish woman with muscular dystrophy died Wednesday after doctors fulfilled her wish and turned off her respirator, bringing an end to a case that had triggered a nationwide debate on euthanasia. (AP)
March 15, 2007
At least one member of the state cabinet will vote against Premier Steve Bracks’ plan to allow therapeutic cloning of human embryos in Victoria. (The Age)
March 15, 2007
The number one goal of drug makers in dispatching sales representatives to meet with doctors face-to-face is to increase sales by convincing doctors to prescribe drugs off-label for unapproved uses, by saying whatever it takes to achieve that goal. (Lawyers … Read More
