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Spain: heading towards euthanasia by stopping food and water?
On 9 October, Andrea Lago Ordonez “died at 12 years of age after having been deprived of food and given minimal amounts of water for 4 days at the University Hospital of Santiago de Compostela in Spain”. This case incited numerous doctors and...
23andMe genetic tests return to the American market
The 23andMe Company has “been given the green light” by the FDA[1]to sell its genetic tests once again in the United States. This start-up, created in 2007 by Anne Wojcicki, a biologist married to Serge Brin, co-founder of Google, was given formal notice by the FDA in...
Increased risk of ovarian cancer “in women having undergone IVF”
An announcement was made last Monday at the American Society for Reproductive Medicine Congress: a new study has just confirmed the “slight increase in the risk of ovarian cancer in women having undergone IVF – of the order of one-third (37%)”. This worrying...
Greece attracts couples seeking surrogacy in droves
Since Greek surrogacy legislation became more lenient in 2014[1], the fertility business has exploded and surrogacy requests are on the increase(cf. Gènéthique du 11 aout 2014). This leniency is not the only reason behind this soar in the surrogacy stakes: the “cost”...
A young mother chooses to give her baby up for adoption rather than have an abortion
A young American woman, Jessalynn Speight, has just published a book [1]in which she describes her journey in life up to and after the adoption of her new-born baby. Having fallen pregnant “by accident”, 19 year-old Jessalynn had to make a decision about her...
Artificial skin: scientists reproduce the touch sensation in the laboratory
Following on from the development of prostheses capable of experiencing humidity, heat and pressure as well as discerning the consistency and shape of objects and handling them, a team of scientists has developed “experimental artificial skin with a sense of touch”....
“You Can’t Put a Price on a Baby’s Heart: The Sale of Baby Organs”
On Thursday 15th October, a conference was held at the European Parliament on the theme: “You Can’t Put a Price on a Baby’s Heart: The Sale of Baby Organs”[1]. Suggested by Miroslav Mikolášik, Marijana Petir, Alojz Peterle and Michaela Šojdrová, 4 European deputies,...
What legislation will govern the use of CRISPR-Cas9?
Tetsuya Ishii, bioethicist at Sapporo Hokkaido University in Japan has spent a year analysing the legislation of thirty-nine countries regarding genome modifications. He presents the conclusions of his investigation. Twenty-nine of these thirty-nine countries...
Germany leans towards assisted suicide
Four draft assisted suicide bills will be examined in the German Parliament in November. Currently, “assisted suicide is tolerated” and the law “allows professionals to give patients lethal medicines if the patients so wish”. The four draft bills which have already...
Minimally Conscious state: End of life or serious disability?
The lack of precision of the Leonetti law of 2005 concerning end of life issues such as hydration and food caused tragic situations to occur. In the media, the controversy around Vincent Lambert aroused an uproar although his state is more to be defined through...
NIPS: Roche and Ariosa extend their market to Australia and the United Kingdom
On 13 October, the Roche and Ariosa Diagnostics Laboratories, leaders in the NIPS market [1](Harmony Prenatal Test®), announced that they had obtained a licence from the Sonic Healthcar Company to carry out the Harmony® prenatal test in Australian and English...
The American Family Planning Association announces a “change of policy”
On Tuesday, the American Family Planning Association announced that it “was changing its policy concerning the donation of foetuses to the scientific community”. It “will no longer accept financial compensation from middle-men who collect the tissues for...