June 7, 2010
New laws could improve women’s health in Pakistan
Pakistan has passed laws that decentralise health care and ban sexual harassment in the workplace, raising hopes for improved women’s health. (The Lancet)
Monthly Archives: June 2010
June 7, 2010
The Case for Evidence-Based Rulemaking in Human Subjects Research
Here I inquire into the status of the rules promulgated in the canonical pronouncements on human subjects research, such as the Declaration of Helsinki and the Belmont Report. The question is whether they are ethical rules or rules of policy. … Read More
June 7, 2010
Reports accuse WHO of exaggerating H1N1 threat, possible ties to drug makers
European criticism of the World Health Organization’s handling of the H1N1 pandemic intensified Friday with the release of two reports that accused the agency of exaggerating the threat posed by the virus and failing to disclose possible influence by the … Read More
June 4, 2010
Sexual selection: The hunk and the show-off do not always get the girl
“BE FRUITFUL and multiply, and fill the Earth.†Taken as an evolutionary imperative, that seems straightforward enough. But in reality, identifying the best way of doing it can be difficult, whether for individuals seeking romance, or scientists studying reproductive behaviour. … Read More
June 4, 2010
Donor-Assisted Conception Sparks Disclosure Dilemmas
Explaining where babies come from prompts anxiety in many a parent. But having to incorporate information on test tubes or sperm donors into the story can make an already sensitive subject even more complicated. (US News and World Report)
June 4, 2010
CANADA: Fertile ground for waste and futility
Most government departments and agencies strive to spend as much money as possible so they don’t lose funding the next year. In stark contrast, the body that regulates the use of donated sperm, eggs and embryos actually put money back … Read More
June 4, 2010
‘Right to live’ group targets MPs
Those in favour of assisted suicide argue that opposing assisted suicide will condemn terminally-ill people to suffer needlessly. The Not Dead Yet UK’s charter includes a commitment to oppose any changes to existing laws which state that assisting a patient … Read More
June 4, 2010
Stem cell research no longer threatened by Ohio Senate bill
The Ohio Senate passed a bill that would outlaw the mixing of human and animal cells to create “human-animal hybrids,†such as the implanting of a human embryo into an animal’s womb. (MedCity News)
June 4, 2010
New Issue of Bioethics is Now Available
Bioethics (Volume 24, Issue 5, June 2010) is now available by subscription only. Articles Include: “Futures for Bioethics?” by Richard Ashcroft, ii-ii. “The Death of Bioethics (As We Once Knew It)” by Ruth Macklin, 211-217. “The Future of Bioethics: Three … Read More
June 4, 2010
New Issue of Journal of Religious Ethics is Now Available
Journal of Religious Ethics (Volume 38, Issue 2, June 2010) is now available by subscription only. Articles Include: “The President’s Council on Bioethics – Requiescat in Pace” by Ronald M. Green, 197-218.
June 4, 2010
New Issue of New England Journal of Medicine is Now Available
New England Journal of Medicine (Volume 362, Number 20, May 20, 2010) is now available by subscription only. Articles Include: “Gene Patenting – Is the Pendulum Swinging Back?” by A.S. Kesselheim and M.M. Mello “Haiti Earthquake Relief, Phase Two – … Read More
June 3, 2010
Namibia HIV women sue over forced sterilisation
Three women in Namibia are suing the state for allegedly being sterilised without their informed consent after being diagnosed as HIV positive. The women say the doctors and nurses should have informed them properly about what was happening. (BBC News)
June 3, 2010
In “America and the Pill,” Elaine Tyler May traces the pill’s influence on women
Sanger is one of the heroes of “America and the Pill,” a new cultural history of the birth control pill written by Elaine Tyler May, a professor of American studies and history at the University of Minnesota. Throughout her long … Read More
June 3, 2010
Bone Marrow Transplants: When Race Is an Issue
Compared to organ transplants, bone marrow donations need to be even more genetically similar to their recipients. Though there are exceptions, the vast majority of successful matches take place between donors and patients of the same ethnic background. Since all … Read More
June 3, 2010
Clinical Trials and the Common Good
It’s a drama that plays out again and again wherever cutting-edge science meets mortal disease. First, researchers test a therapy that works miracles in animals. Expectant patients flock to those researchers. But then regulatory authorities and ethics committees prevent the … Read More
June 3, 2010
Ten Years On — The Human Genome and Medicine
On a June day nearly 10 years ago, the leaders of the United States and the United Kingdom, accompanied by the leaders of the public and private teams deciphering the human genome, announced that a draft sequence had been completed. … Read More
June 3, 2010
Creating Headlines, Artificial Life, Ethical Concerns, and Ontological Perplexity
Synthetic biology has been catapulted into the public sphere after an article in Science reported that Craig Venter and his collaborators had managed to make a synthetic cell by inserting a fabricated genome into a bacterium. The achievement made headlines … Read More
June 3, 2010
Confused on Fertilization
Fertilization in humans and other mammals produces a new member of the species in the embryonic stage of its natural development. That is to say, the entity produced by the union of spermatozoon and oocyte is a complete, though developmentally … Read More
June 3, 2010
AMA issues health insurer code of conduct
The document’s principles are meant to protect patients and physicians from what the Association calls questionable insurance practices. (American Medical News)
June 3, 2010
Managing Financial Conflict of Interest in Biomedical Research
As the nation’s biomedical research agency, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) must ensure that the research it funds on the behalf of US taxpayers is scientifically rigorous and free of bias. Â Over the course of more than 65 years … Read More
June 3, 2010
New Issue of Journal of the American Medical Association is Now Available
JAMA (Volume 303, Number 19, May 19, 2010) is now available by subscription only. Articles Include: “Rethinking Mental Illness” by Thomas R. Insel and Philip S. Wang, 1970-1971. “Improving Health and Health Care for Persons With Serious Mental Illness: The … Read More
June 3, 2010
New Issue of Journal of Bioethical Inquiry is Now Available
Journal of Bioethical Inquiry (Volume 7, Number 2, June 2010) is now available by subscription only. Articles Include: “Continental Philosophy and Bioethics” by Catherine Mills, 145-148. “Playing God, Playing Adam: The Politics and Ethics of Enhancement” by Joanna Zylinska, 149-161. … Read More
June 3, 2010
New Issue of New England Journal of Medicine is Now Available
New England Journal of Medicine (Volume 362, Number 18, May 6, 2010) is now available by subscription only. Articles Include: “Fixing Medicare’s Physician Payment System” by B.C. Vladeck “A ‘Customary and Necessary’ Program – Medicaid and Health Care Reform” by … Read More
June 2, 2010
A Lecture in Ethics: The End of Life?
The United Kingdom was honoured to receive the man who wrote the law on medical ethics in Israel. Professor Avraham Steinberg flew over from Israel to speak to Imperial College students and interested parties about the ethics of ending life. … Read More
June 2, 2010
Interview: On The Cutting Edge Of Biotech Law
Editor: Please remind our readers of your background as both in-house counsel for a scientific firm as well as outside counsel. Camacho: I spent many years at a large law firm as outside counsel to a number of venture-backed companies. … Read More
