October 4, 2007
The bill, part of Sarkozy’s promised crackdown on illegal immigration, contains plans to demand DNA tests from immigrants seeking to join their family in France. It has provoked opposition from inside and outside Sarkozy’s centre-right bloc. (Reuters)
October 4, 2007
Artificial hearts. Kidney transplants. Mood-altering drugs. Gene-mapping. Robotic arms. In vitro fertilization. There’s no question about it. Scientists and medical researchers have come along way on the path to altering human life. (ASU News)
October 3, 2007
American laboratories handling the world’s deadliest germs and toxins have experienced more than 100 accidents and missing shipments since 2003, and the number is increasing as more labs do the work. (Wired)
October 3, 2007
The top-ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee has asked 11 long-term care insurance companies to explain “troubling data†regarding how policyholders’ claims are handled and paid. (New York Times)
October 3, 2007
President Bush, in a confrontation with Congress, on Wednesday vetoed a bipartisan bill that would have dramatically expanded children’s health insurance. (AP)
October 3, 2007
It’s been more than 6 years since the first person was injected with stem cells to rescue a failing heart. Hundreds of patients have since followed the lead of that 46-year-old German man. But experts are still divided on how … Read More
October 3, 2007
With the help of new high-speed DNA sequencing technology, scientists have uncovered extensive regions in the human genome where chunks of DNA have been deleted, copied, or completely rearranged. Mapping and characterizing these structural variants could be key to understanding … Read More
October 3, 2007
No longer hindered by legal challenges, California officials today will take orders from individual investors for the first bond sale to finance the state’s stem-cell research institute. (Mercury News)
October 3, 2007
A UK couple has received approval from the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) to have their IVF embryos screened or early onset Alzheimer’s disease (EOAD). (PHG Foundation)
October 3, 2007
A Canadian judge has acquitted four doctors and a US drug company of criminal negligence in a long-running tainted-blood scandal. (BBC)
October 3, 2007
Professor Sheila McLean of Glasgow University is expected to spark debate by not only supporting euthanasia but suggesting it should be an option for people regardless of their diagnosis. (The Herald)
October 3, 2007
The bitter battle over children’s health care in Washington is threatening to punch a hole in the state’s budget and calling into question medical coverage for 130,000 Illinois adults. (Chicago Tribune)
October 3, 2007
Three of Europe’s top drugmakers have backed a new public-private scheme to use stem cells for safety testing of experimental medicines, signaling “big pharma’s” growing interest in the controversial field. (Scientific American)
October 3, 2007
The facts never speak for themselves, which is why scientists need to “frame” their messages to the public. (The Scientist)
October 2, 2007
Bioethics Vol. 21 Issue 8 (October 2007) is now available by subsciption only. Articles include: “PLAYING GOD AND THE ETHICS OF DIVINE NAMES: AN ISLAMIC PARADIGM FOR BIOMEDICAL ETHICS” by QAISER SHAHZAD, 413–418 “TRANSHUMANISM AND MORAL EQUALITY” by JAMES WILSON, … Read More
October 2, 2007
Nearly two years ago, I wrote a series of posts (here, here, here, and here) and a column (“Harm Done,” NRO) about the ongoing deconstruction of the Hippocratic Oath and its devolution into meaningless pabulum in a society that increasingly … Read More
October 2, 2007
Erica Nordby, a toddler in Edmonton Canada had wandered out alone into the frigid night. Before she was resuscitated her heart had stopped beating for two hours and her body temperature had dropped to 61 degrees Fahrenheit. She was brought … Read More
October 2, 2007
The Supreme Court is wasting little time seeing just how far a newly confident conservative majority can affect a range of law-and-order issues. From terrorism to lethal injection, cocaine sentencing to child pornography, the nine justices will tackle a socially … Read More
October 2, 2007
Patients recovering from surgery or injuries may soon be able to physically play their way to a full recovery with intelligent robotic systems that generate specialized games to challenge the human body’s abilities. Henrik Hautop Lund, a robotics and artificial-intelligence … Read More
October 2, 2007
Thwarted by regulations on egg donation for research, scientists craft new ways to manufacture embryos . . . Excerpt: Mr. Byrne, a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University’s Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, studies stem cells. Like hundreds … Read More
October 2, 2007
Just Doctoring: “A Leadership Summit on the Future of Social Justice and Service in Medicine” Saturday, October 6, 2007 8:00am – 5:00pm Sponsored by The Medical Students of the Loyola University Chicago, Stritch School of Medicine (SSOM), the Neiswanger Institute … Read More
October 1, 2007
The altercation at a John Kerry speech resulting in the now world famous plea, “Don’t tase me, Bro,” has led to a delay in Kevorkian’s $50,000 speech from October to January. Apparently the university wants to improve security. Since the … Read More
October 1, 2007
I am striving to obtain the referenced Journal of Medical Ethics articles, but the abstracts alone illustrate how anti-human and human extinction advocacy is moving from the fringe into the intellectual mainstream. This article is in response to a book … Read More
October 1, 2007
The media love stories such as this one in the Oregonian, byline Don Colburn; of the “fiercely independent” man or woman who decides the time has come to die through assisted suicide. From the story: Lovelle Svart woke up Friday … Read More
October 1, 2007
I blogged a few days ago about the propaganda piece, er study, proclaiming no slippery slope with regard to assisted suicide. Well, here is the PDF of the report itself. But I note the following, which seems odd for a … Read More
