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3D production of artificial bones in Japan
Scientists at Tokyo University and linked to the medical company, Next 21, have produced a new line of artificial bones, in 3D, which they have called CT Bone. Around one hundred patients have already benefited from this technique with a satisfaction rate of 80%....
Heading towards a platform of palliative care and pain treatment?
On 22 and 23 September 2014, an informal council meeting of European Health Ministers was held in Milan. Several points were discussed, especially the question of palliative care, including paediatric palliative care, and pain treatment. During discussions, the...
Breast cancer and mastectomy: a review of the Angelina Jolie effect
Since American actress, Angelina Jolie, confirmed her double mastectomy to prevent breast cancer "the risk of which was highlighted in her genetic genealogy", an increasing number of women are undergoing genetic tests and screening. Numbers have more than doubled in...
3D print embryo: what about the ethics debate?
On Monday, 22 September 2014, the Montpellier University Hospital Centre (CHU) announced that it had developed a new process: 3D print embryos (Gènéthique press review on September 22nd, 2014). Numerous journals have commented on this advance, such as Sciences et...
Spain / abortion: the Government rescinds its draft bill
In December 2013, the Spanish Council of Ministers adopted a draft bill aimed at limiting access to abortion. (Gènéthique press review on December 27th, 2014) Since then, the presentation of this project to Parliament has been constantly deferred. A week...
NIPS for Down syndrome in the United Kingdom: a pleasing technique but is it ethical?
In the United Kingdom, a study is currently underway by University College London's Institute of Child Health to evaluate how women feel about non-invasive prenatal diagnosis (NIPS) with regard to the prenatal diagnosis (PND) of Down syndrome. A total of eight...
3D print embryo: a new embryo selection process?
Following the 3D printing of organs, the Europe 1 website announced that researchers at the Montpellier CHU (University Hospital Centre) had succeeded in "reconstituting and printing a human embryo in 3D, at the stage where the embryo comprises only a few cells"....
Spain: will anti-abortion demonstrations be the last word?
Last December, Spanish Justice Minister, Alberto Ruiz-Gallardon, proposed a draft bill aimed at restricting access to abortion. The bill has been on hold since then - it "still hasn’t been put to Parliament where conservatives have the majority". A week...
Malta: the newly elected president reasserts her opposition to abortion
In Malta, the newly elected president, Marie-Louise Coleiro Préca, recently announced that she would never sign a law authorising abortion. The president was supported on this point by a representative of the labour party at the Council of Europe Parliamentary...
Three-parent IVF in Great Britain: an urgent call for caution
In a few weeks, the British Parliament will decide whether or not Great Britain should become the first country in the world to authorise three-parent IVF. The British Human Fertilisation and Embryology Association consented to this practice last June (Gènéthique...
Swiss legislation on MAP: one party launches a referendum against PGD
In Switzerland, the debate on the draft bill relating to medically assisted procreation (MAP) authorising recourse to pre-implantation genetic diagnostics (PGD) in particular, is still in full swing. Both federal chambers agreed to grant recourse to PGD in the case of...
The world’s 1st clinical trial with iPS generates excitement in the scientific sector
Last Friday, the world’s first clinical trial involving the treatment of ARMD (age-related macular degeneration) using iPS cells was carried out. This pioneering treatment was developed by Masayo Takahashi and colleagues at the RIKEN Centre (Kobe, Japan) (Gènéthique...