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Yunnan province in China launches a campaign against surrogacy
This summer, the government of the Chinese province of Yunnan launched a campaign against surrogacy. This practice is illegal in China but “the sector is flourishing in this most populated country in the world where studies suggest that fertility problems affect one...
Carmat artificial heart: a first scientific publication
On 28 July, in the Lancet medical journal, Professor Carpentier et al. published information on three patients who had undergone a Carmat heart transplant – information that had been “jealously guarded” until then. This “long awaited” article provides...
Use of abortion pill RU486 approved by “Santé Canada”
On Monday, “Santé Canada”, Canada’s Federal Ministry for Health approved the use of abortion pill RU486[1], “based on scientific recommendations”. It will be marketed under the name of Mifegymiso, by the LinePharma International Limited laboratory. The...
United States: Heading towards removing family planning subsidies
A scandal erupted a fortnight ago in the United States when the Center for Medical Progress put a video on line that had been filmed with a hidden camera. The video showed a family planning manager giving details of a partial birth abortion – a method that she...
Belgium : Over one-third of requests for euthanasia on the grounds of psychological suffering are successful
A study carried out by 6 Belgian doctors and scientists and published in the Journal du Médecin has confirmed that, in Belgium, 35 patients out of 100 requesting euthanasia on the grounds of intolerable mental suffering were actually granted their request. The...
United States: Zion, an 8 year-old child, has a double hand transplant
In the United States, 8 year-old Zion has undergone a double hand and forearm transplant – a “world first” for a child, according to the Philadelphia Children’s Hospital. Zion had to have his hands and feet amputated at 2 years of age following septicaemia – a...
Surrogacy: In Tailand, a surrogate mother refuses to allow her baby to leave the country
In Thailand, a homosexual couple, American Gordon Lake and Spaniard, Manuel Valero, employed the services of a surrogate mother who gave birth to a baby daughter, Carmen. However, they could not leave the country with the baby without the authorisation of the...
Openletter from experts protesting against autonomous weapon systems
Yesterday, Monday 27 July, over a thousand people, mostly scientists specialising in artificial intelligence and robotics, called for a ban on autonomous weapons capable of “selecting and combating targets without human intervention”. They made their point by signing...
MAP: Spains sends embryos by post
“The case is causing a commotion!” In Italy, a couple “received an embryo produced by donor IVF through the post”. This infertile couple wanted to have heterologous IVF[1], but the lack of donors in Italy led them to consider Spain, “where there are notoriously...
United States: Appeal by religious institutions ordered to pay for contraception
The Little Sisters of the Poor and ten other religious institutions that lost their case against health insurance on 14 July, obliging them to pay for their employees’ contraception, have decided to appeal. They have appealed for a ruling by the Supreme Court, arguing...
Poland: President Bronislaw Komorowski endorses legislation surrounding IVF
Following the vote at the National Assembly and adoption by the Senate, legislation surrounding in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) was endorsed by Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski on Wednesday, 21 July. This law authorises: Access to and reimbursement of...
A bionic eye to correct age-related macular degeneration
Raymond Flynn, an 80 year-old man with age-related macular degeneration, lives in Manchester. Last month he underwent surgery at Manchester Royal Eye Hospital. He was given a bionic eye to restore his central vision, which has been deteriorating for 10 years. The...