Search
Bioethic experts versus policies: a fool’s game
In the Governance journal and BioEdge, Annabelle Littoz-Monet* emphasises the fact that, although bioethicists are authorised to advise policy makers independently in order to ensure that the latter make the "right" decisions, she notes that, in reality, the...
Double discovery thanks to iPS cells to research treatment into Down Syndrome
The Nature Communications journal has published an article in which scientists at the UC Davis School of Medicine and Schriners Hospitals for Children (North California) have just identified the role of astroglial cells (that support neurones) in the...
Gender selection – current practice in Asia
Twenty years ago, India adopted a law banning prenatal gender tests in order to prevent numerous gender selective abortions against girls. However, the legislation does not seem to have been applied. According to a recent UNICEF report, India has lost over 10 million...
ESPRIT special predictive medicine – 5/5 – transforming the anxiety of prediction into open anticipation of the inevitable
The July edition of the ESPRIT journal is devoted to “speculations on genetics”. Gènéthique reviews this packed and relevant document throughout the week, focusing on summaries of the 5 articles it contains, the sixth one having already been mentioned. Today:...
Faced with pressure from the UN, Ireland promises a constitutional referendum on abortion
A Government delegation made a promise before the UN Council of Human Rights to carry out a constitutional referendum to no longer "violate human rights" with regard to abortion legislation. Justice Minister, Frances Fitzgerald, who headed the Irish...
EU: convention against organ trafficking
Last week, the Council of Europe adopted a convention against the trafficking of human organs. It will come into force once all Member States have signed, i.e. between the end of 2014 and the start of 2015. "The purpose of this convention is to prevent and...
An electronic pill for 2018?
An American start-up company, MicroCHIPS, has just developed a subcutaneous contraceptive microchip. The technology was developed in the 1990s by an engineer - Professor Robert Langer. In 2012, Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft, suggested applying the technology to the...
Regenerative medicine: bone marrow cells stimulate the heart
The reprogramming of bone marrow cells to stimulate the hearts of subjects with heart failure could soon benefit many patients. At the start of the year, like the European authorities, the Food & Drug Administration (FDA)* gave its consent for a phase III clinical...
Poland: Hospital Director sacked for refusing to allow an abortion
The Mayor of Warsaw has just decided to sack the director of a public hospital for refusing to carry out an abortion. The mother requested an abortion because of a foetal deformity. A spokesperson for the mayor commented as follows: "the right to information...
3D printing of skin fragments
A team from the Tissue Bio-Engineering Laboratory in Bordeaux "has just succeeded in printing skin fragments from different types of human cells cultivated in vitro", which could lead to the printing of skin directly on to major burns victims. The Bordeaux...
Human Brain Project, European ambition contested
A petition signed by over 260 scientists is calling for the European Commission to "carefully re-examine both the scientific dimension and management" of the Human Brain Project (HBP) – one of the two scientific projects supported by the European Union....
A bio-artificial pancreas to improve the every day life of diabetics
A team of Strasbourg scientists have developed a prototype for a bio-artificial pancreas after 20 years of research. Clinical trials will begin at the end of 2015 or early 2016 in Montpellier and Oxford (United Kingdom) for results expected in 2017. This project is...