Search
Japan: The world’s first human iPS cell implantation has taken place
On 10 September, the scientific journal, Nature, revealed that a team of Japanese scientists would soon be attempting to treat a patient suffering from age-related macular degeneration (ARMD) with iPS cells (Gènéthique press review on September 11th, 2014). ...
Quebec reviews its MAP programme in depth
Deemed to be too expensive and a source of spin-offs, Quebec’s programme of medically assisted procreation (MAP) will be modified “in depth”, according to Health Minister, Dr. Gaétan Barette. In fact, the programme turned out to be far more costly than...
The role of human science in MAP-related questions
Marie Gaille, philosopher and head of the CRNS mission, published a letter in the on-line journal of the CNRS. She argues that social and human sciences should grasp the topic of MAP given its multidisciplinary nature and the moral, political and legal issues that it...
Japan: imminent treatment with IPS cells for a patient suffering from ARMD
On 10 September, the scientific journal, Nature, revealed that a team of Japanese scientists would soon be attempting to treat a patient suffering from age-related macular degeneration (ARMD) with iPS cells. This would be the first person to be treated with iPS...
Breast cancer: debate on the generalisation of genetic screening
On 3 September 2014, the scientific journal JAMA - Journal of the American Medical Association – published the results of a study carried out between 1998 and 2011 involving 189,734 women living in California and diagnosed with breast cancer. Globally, whether...
Heading towards a reconsideration of abortion?
In the British newspaper, The Telegraph, a scientist at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture at the University of Virginia, Dr. James Mumford, referred in an opinion column to the results of a recently published study relating to the viability of premature...
Heading towards generalised genetic testing?
An American Foundation, the Lasker Foundation "the prizes of which are viewed as 'American Nobel Prizes'" honoured several scientists on Monday including American geneticist, Mary-Claire King, Professor of Genetics at Washington University School of Medicine in...
Switzerland / in-vitro screening for Down syndrome: the “risk of eugenic spin-offs” revisited
In March, in Switzerland, the examination of a draft law triggered a debate on genetic testing within the scope of in-vitro fertilisation (IVF). The main purpose of this bill was to authorise pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) (Gènéthique press reviews on March...
Fœtal alcohol syndrome: responsible for mental handicap
The world seminar on the prevention of Fœtal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) was held on 9 September. On this occasion, Jean-Marc Buziau, paediatrician and head of a premature medical-social action centre (PMSAC) in Caudry (northern France), was interviewed by the...
CANCER: the urgent need to boost treatments to improve conditions for the terminally ill
According to a study published in the Cancer journal, one of the publications of the American Cancer Society, and carried out in Germany, "many patients hospitalised in oncology centres are not dying with dignity". In order to carry out this study Karin...
3D printing facilitates delicate surgery on a baby
At 5 months, a baby named Gabriel "has started to develop worrying symptoms such as spasms and fainting". No treatment was administered to this child – a victim of significant bouts of epilepsy. So a team of doctors at Boston’s Children’s Hospital suggested to her...
Euthanasia: a complaint against Belgium presented to the ECHR
On 20 April 2014, Mr. Tom Mortier learned that his mother had been given a lethal injection at the Dutch-speaking university hospital, UZ Brussel. The patient had been suffering from chronic depression. In this case, euthanasia was administered by Dr. Wim Distelmans,...