Search
Abortion: the “Heartbeat bill” adopted by Mississippi Lawmakers
Mississippi lawmakers passed a law Tuesday banning abortion as soon as a foetal heart rate can be detected in the embryo, from around 6 weeks of pregnancy (see Two pro-life legislative initiatives in the US). The so-called “Heartbeat Bill”, makes exceptions “for...
Arkansas and Kentucky to ban abortions due to foetal abnormalities
Yesterday, the Arkansas Senate approved a bill banning doctors from performing abortions because of Down Syndrome diagnosis. This law follows the one adopted in the state last week banning abortion after 18 weeks of pregnancy (see Arkansas: abortion ban tightens from...
Arkansas: abortion ban tightens from 20 to 18 weeks
Asa Hutchinson, Governor of Arkansas, signed a bill on Friday banning abortion beyond 18 weeks of pregnancy (see Two pro-life legislative initiatives in the US). While lawmakers and the House of Representatives have already voted in favour of the bill, the Governor's...
A police dog cloned in China
Chinese researchers at Yunnan University and the biotechnology company Sinogene claim to have cloned a police dog to reduce how long it takes to train these dogs and the associated costs. No details on the technique used were given. The long-term objective is said to...
$29 million to establish a Down syndrome research centre
The Alana Foundation, based in São Paulo, Brazil, has just donated $28.6 million to MIT[1][1][1]. MIT announced on Wednesday that this donation will be used to establish the Alana Down Syndrome Center. This research centre will "combine the expertise of scientists and...
The United Kingdom’s Royal College of Physicians adopts a ‘neutral’ stance on assisted dying
After failing to obtain a 60% majority of doctors against assisted dying, the Royal College of Physicians has abandoned its opposition to this practice and adopted a neutral stance on the matter. A survey of nearly 7,000 English doctors shows that 43.4% of them...
Frozen embryos: “It’s not an item in storage, it’s a life!”
A woman from Massachusetts, USA, has sued the fertility clinic that froze her embryo for 13 years without her knowledge. Marisa Cloutier-Bristol and her first husband apparently dreamt of having ten children, but despite several cycles of IVF treatment [1] at Women...
Human-embryo trafficking between Malaysia and India: dismantling a network
On 15 March, Indian police intercepted a man at Bombay airport. He was carrying a nitrogen-packed canister that turned out to contain human embryos. The arrested man, Partiban Durai, admitted to working for a Malaysian surrogacy agency Heart to Art, which "acts as an...
The WHO is to create an international registry of genome-editing research
The WHO expert advisory committee on genome editing recently met in Geneva for two days (see Genetically Modified Babies: WHO launches ethics committee). It has called for an international registry of scientists working on genome editing to be established for...
Telemedicine: California man learns he is dying from a doctor on robot video
“We knew this was going to happen and that he was very sick, but the news can't be given that way, somebody should have told us in person and not through a machine," says the astonished granddaughter of a Californian patient who died at 79. Annalisia Wilharm, 33, had...
FDA targets online abortion pill providers
In the United States, recent laws restricting access to abortion have given rise to a large number of websites selling abortion pills of questionable origin online. On Tuesday, the FDA sent warning letters to the two main players: the website AidAccess.org and the...
After their son’s accidental death, a Chinese couple ask for his sperm to produce a new heir
Peter Zhu, a 21-year-old cadet of Chinese origin, was declared brain-dead after a skiing accident at the prestigious West Point Military Academy in northern New York State, USA. His parents immediately asked permission to have his sperm extracted to ensure male...