September 3, 2010
The latest annual survey of employer health benefits contains good news for the employers but bad news for their workers. The good news is that the average total premium for employer-sponsored health insurance (typically paid partly by employers and partly … Read More
September 3, 2010
Are they one of your success stories?” I asked, pointing behind Dr. H. to a large silver-framed photo of two fat-cheeked babies, identical twins. Dr. H. was my fertility doctor, and this was our first appointment. (CNN)
September 3, 2010
Ever since 1996, the law has been clear: The federal government may not pay for research in which existing human embryos are “destroyed, discarded, or knowingly subjected to risk of injury or death.†(Christian Post)
September 3, 2010
A municipal court in central China has accepted the country’s first lawsuit alleging work discrimination because of HIV status, state media reported Tuesday. (The Associated Press)
September 3, 2010
Two people have been arrested on suspicion of encouraging or assisting the suicide of a 76-year-old disabled man who travelled to Switzerland to die, prompting renewed calls from pressure groups for a change in the law. (The Guardian)
September 2, 2010
The two scientists behind the lawsuit that has temporarily blocked federal funding for embryonic stem-cell research said Wednesday they were motivated by ethical objections to destroying human embryos for medical research. (Wall Street Journal)
September 2, 2010
Some months ago, the receptionist in my clinic handed me a registered letter. The name of the sender seemed familiar. “Dear Sir,” the letter read. “Please be advised that this letter serves as official notice that I am considering a … Read More
September 2, 2010
Allergan Inc., the maker of wrinkle-smoothing Botox, has agreed to pay $600 million to settle a years long federal investigation into its marketing of the top-selling, botulin-based drug. (GazetteXtra)
September 2, 2010
If attendees at the Minnesota State Fair aren’t too busy revelling in the performances of Kiss or “Weird Al” Yankovic, or enjoying a celebrity cow-milking contest, they might just try spitting for science. (Nature News)
September 2, 2010
Australians are helping fuel a predatory international transplant trade by travelling overseas to buy organs illegally. The Transplantation Society says there are still Australians willing to ignore health and ethical considerations to source organs on the overseas market. (ABC News)
September 2, 2010
Over the past few years, pharmaceutical research has become more commercialized and market-driven. For two bioethicists, that raises questions about the quality of the data in drug trials, and the safety of the participants in those trials. (Minnesota Public Radio)
September 2, 2010
Looks like the brave new world has finally arrived. The website BeautifulPeople.com reportedly “booted out 5,000 people who gained weight and were deemed too ugly to remain members”. (R & D Mag)
September 2, 2010
A federal decision not to fund clinical trials for an experimental multiple sclerosis treatment cannot stop Saskatchewan from going ahead, but the province would have other scientific and ethical hoops to jump through first. (Healthzone.ca)
September 2, 2010
The US National Nanotechnology Initiative has spent billions of dollars on submicroscopic science in its first 10 years. Corie Lok finds out where the money went and what the initiative plans to do next. (Nature News)
September 2, 2010
ALL TOO often, patients with terminal illnesses turn to the pain medication and counseling of palliative care only after enduring wrenching treatments that have little chance of extending their lives. But what if palliative care began immediately after the diagnosis … Read More
September 2, 2010
As counsel for the researcher plaintiffs in the lawsuit against the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) on experiments using human embryonic stem cells, I write to correct your assertion that the progress of the suit poses a threat to … Read More
September 1, 2010
The Obama administration asked a federal judge Tuesday to allow the government to continue funding embryonic stem-cell research while a case challenging the program makes its way through the courts. (Wall Street Journal)
September 1, 2010
Tens of millions of people in low and middle income countries would be pushed below the poverty line by buying common but vital medicines which are already unaffordable to hundreds of millions more, a study has found. (Reuters)
September 1, 2010
The old stereotype of the gold-digging hussy who gets pregnant to trap a man into marriage seems to have faded, probably because women are not as economically dependent on men as they once were. But that’s not to say that … Read More
September 1, 2010
Brazilians endlessly repeat the old saw that the world thinks of only three things when it thinks of Brazil: samba, carnivale and football. But its healthcare industry would like to add a fourth–surgery. As part of Brazil’s efforts to leverage … Read More
September 1, 2010
round 12,000 Germans are waiting for an organ donation. Some politicians think that a model where everyone is presumed to be a donor unless they have said otherwise could give a much-needed boost to organ donation. (Deutsche Welle)
September 1, 2010
Illegal organ harvesting has become worse under reforms put in place by the Chinese leadership to stop it, says a Canadian human rights lawyer. (Epoch Times)
