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In Belgium, 50 psychiatric patients are euthanized every year
On Friday, Professor Wim Distelmans, President of the Federal Euthanasia Control and Evaluation Commission, indicated that approximately fifty people were euthanized in Belgium on psychiatric grounds in 2013 and again in 2014. "At the onset of the depressive...
Genetic modifications: the soar in “genetic engineering” in the USA
Clinical trials using "gene editing" or "genetic engineering" techniques are increasing. These techniques use nucleases to modify the genome. Recently, in early March 2015, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorised a phase I clinical trial focusing on...
Human Brain Project: cognitive neurosciences once again at the centre of the project
On Wednesday, the management team for the European scientific project, the Human Brain Project (HBP), adopted recommendations made by mediator Wolfang Marquard. In September 2014, the latter was appointed to reform the project in accordance with the wishes of 260...
A hybrid nerve cell to treat nerve lesions
Researchers at Osaka University Hospital have succeeded in developing a hybrid nerve cell, which could lead to "less invasive" treatment than the methods currently intended to repair nerve lesions. The team has developed a hybrid cell in mice combining IPS...
Down Syndrome Day: The Institut Jérôme Lejeune to care, train and cure
21 March is World Down Syndrome day. This syndrome is the leading diagnosed cause of mental deficiency of genetic origin. On this occasion, the Famille Chrétienne magazine describes the action taken by the Institut Lejeune including its three missions to...
21 March: World Down Syndrome Day
As World Down Syndrome Day approaches, questions relating to the incorporation of people with Down Syndrome into society have once again come to the fore. In a paper entitled "Grand angle", the AFP raises the question of ageing for people with Down...
Iowa: Dissuasive measures against abortion.
On Monday, 16 March, the Iowa Chamber adopted a draft law obliging doctors to routinely offer women wishing to have an abortion the chance to see an ultrasound scan of their child and to hear the baby’s heartbeat. “This gives a woman the opportunity to be fully...
Morrocco: King Mohammed VI intervenes in the abortion debate
On Monday, 16 March, as part of the national abortion debate, launched by Houssain Louardi, Health Minister, the Rabat National Library held a debate on abortion organised by the Association Marocaine de Lutte contre l’Avortement Clandestin (AMLAC) (Moroccan...
The morning after pill supplied without a prescription
EllaOne® (ulipristal acétate[1]) has been marketed since May 2009 in France by the HRA Pharma laboratory. It is indicated for emergency contraception in the 120 hours (5 days) following unprotected sex or if a method of contraception fails. In November 2014,...
Artificial Intelligence: When reality exceeds fiction
Scientific advances are such that the most disturbing science-fiction scenarios are nowadays taken into account. Last week on the Reddit site, Bill Gates announced that he was “concerned by the rapid progress of artificial intelligence”. Although artificial...
Development of the international market for selling children by surrogacy is denounced
The European group of associations, “No Maternity Traffic”, promoting the abolition of surrogacy, and the ECLJ (European Centre for Law and Justice) have lodged an “individual complaint”against the United Nations Special Reporter [1]. They denounce “the participation...
The European Parliament adopts the Panzeri report: an article that wishes to incorporate an “inalienable right” to abortion
On Wednesday, 11 March, the European Parliament adopted the Panzeri report, the 2013 annual report on " Human rights and democracy in the world and the European Union's policy on the matter". This report includes a paragraph that seeks to promote abortion as a...