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Hope of regaining control of paralyzed limbs through neuroprosthesis
Monkeys have regained control of their paralysed leg thanks to a wireless interface between the brain and spine. This is a "neuroprosthesis" developed by an international consortium led by the Ecole Polytechnique de Lausanne (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology -...
Over 250,000 babies born by IVF in England
In England, figures published by the "Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority" (HFEA) confirm that more than 250,000 babies have been born through IVF therapy since 1978. These are the facts presented by one department of the British Ministry of Health,...
Cambodia follows in the footsteps of India and Thailand to ban surrogacy
The Cambodian Ministry of Health has decided to ban recourse to surrogacy given the nationwide increase in this practice since surrogacy was banned in Thailand and India. Moreover, until now, the cost of surrogacy in Cambodia has been very low compared to the United...
Male contraception: research interrupted due to side effects
A study on male contraception carried out by the University of Edinburgh and published in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, had to be interrupted at the end of October. A certain number of men complained of multiple side effects: mood...
Artificial intelligence lacks common sense
Gary Marcus, founder of the Geometric Intelligence Company, is drawing inspiration from the way in which children develop their capacity for abstraction and common sense in order to "humanise artificial intelligence (IA)" and boost its performance....
“Genome editing to transform what we eat”
Cellectis, a biopharmaceutical company, has announced that it hosted the first gene-edited dinner in New York on 20 October 2016. The dinner took six months to plan and involved extensive food testing. University Professors, doctors, journalists, celebrities...
Post-mortem insemination banned for 40 years
Two administrative justice decisions "have just undermined the bioethics law prohibiting post-mortem procreation using frozen sperm by allowing the latter to be exported" (see Insémination post-mortem : une française obtient l’exportation du sperme de son mari...
CRISPR-Cas9, a major concern for English, French and German ethics committees
French, German and English Ethics Committees have been holding an annual meeting for seven years. The 2016 trilateral meeting was held on 21 October in Berlin on the topic of genome editing, i.e. "new techniques in gene modification", including CRISPR-Cas9....
In the United States almost as many medical as surgical abortions
In the United States, American women are seeking recourse to medical abortions almost as often as surgical abortions. Sixteen years ago, when the abortion pill was granted marketing authorisation and the medication was launched in the US, all the signs indicated that...
Increase in the number of assisted suicides in Switzerland? “The real danger lies in breeding a culture heading in this direction”
When two brothers started legal proceedings to oppose the assisted suicide request made to Exit by their 83 year-old elder brother who was not suffering from any specific condition (see In Switzerland, brothers start legal proceedings against Exit: verdict due...
In England – NHS to authorise NIPS as early as 2018
Following the recommendation of the National Screening Committee (see NIPS: ethical questions pending), the NHS[1] has announced its intention to make NIPS available in 2018. "We want women to have safer screening tests available to them, (…) we...
![[Movie] “Heal the living”: is the destiny of some people to heal others?](https://www.genethique.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/reparer_les_vivants_1.png)
[Movie] “Heal the living”: is the destiny of some people to heal others?
Supported by formidable media backup, it seems impossible to miss the movie Heal the living. The story, an adaptation of the many-times awarded book from Maylis de Kerangal, had already been adapted for the theatre. Simon, 17 years old, arrives in the emergency...