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Genome-editing: A more high-performance alternative to the CRISPR-Cas9 tool?
On 25 September 2015, a study published in the Cell journal and supervised by biologist, Feng Zhang (Broad Institute, Cambridge, Massachusetts),highlighted the discovery of a protein called Cpf1, which could exceed the limits of CRISPR-Cas9. CRISPR-Cas9 is a tool that...
A clinical trial based on human embryo stem cells launched in the United Kingdom
The first patient has undergone surgery at London Moorfields Eye Hospital as part of the London Project to Cure Blindness, a clinical trial using human embryo stem cells in an attempt to treat people suffering from ARMD (Age-Related Macular Degeneration – a...
Australia allows telephone orders of the abortion pill
From today onwards, Australian women can order the abortion pill, mifepristone or RU-486, by making a simple telephone call. The pill will be delivered to their homes after blood tests and an ultrasound scan. The Tabott Foundation providing this...
Lifting the veil on three-parent IVF
Last February, the British Government approved "Three Parent IVF" (cf. Gènéthique du 4 février 2015). This technique involves creating embryos from 3 DNA (that of the father, the mother and an egg donor) to prevent the transmission of genetic diseases carried by the...
Quebec: Paradox in the “Guide to medically assisted dying”
On 10 September, the College of Physicians of Quebec published a “Guide to medically assisted dying” intended for health care professionals authorised from December onwards to practice euthanasia for adults at the end of their lives and for persons subject to...
Contraception: Pfizer offers a solution to “very busy women”
In England, the Health Authorities have just allowed the Pfizer Laboratory to launch a “home-injectable” contraceptive on the market, Sayana Press®. This is a long-acting hormonal contraceptive. One injection “protects” women for “thirteen weeks at least”....
When abortion stands out in the news from the United States to France
Since 22 September 2015, the widely circulated hashtag #ShoutYourAbortion, has been fuelling a web debate. This “viral campaign” was launched by three American women in response to a vote by the Chamber of Representatives aimed at reducing the budget allocated...
Planned Parenthood: a company at the heart of the sale of the organs of aborted children
For a few weeks now, an organization of American journalists, the Center for Medical Progress (CMP), has been broadcasting videos filmed with a hidden camera, which reveal a scandalous activity carried out by Planned Parenthood: the sale of the organs of aborted...
Are we heading towards the creation of laboratory kidneys?
Japanese scientists at the Jikei University School of Medicine in Tokyo have succeeded in developing functioning laboratory-produced kidneys, created from stem cells and transplanted into animals.“Once transplanted to pigs or rats, the kidneys functioned and produced...
Pregnancy and genetics : a “worrying” study for oocyte donation and surrogacy
A recent Spanish scientific publication in the Development journal was actively relayed by a Press agency in France. It refers to a study conducted by Carlos Simon, affiliated to Stanford University and Scientific Director of FIVI[1]. The IVI Foundation...
Men, not spared by abortion
Since 1975, abortion has become women’s business. They are the ones who, on their own and freely, decide what to do about their pregnancy, whether it is expected or not. Indeed, the law does not mention the genitor, the person who, along with the women, is at the...
Belgian reactions to “euthanasia for physical suffering”
Laura, a young 24 year-old Belgian woman with a difficult childhood and adolescence behind her, has requested euthanasia because she is thinking “suicidal thoughts” (cf. Gènéthique du 1er juillet 2015 et du 5 aout 2015). This summer, the “world was moved” following...