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![United States: the Supreme Court will not hear the case of surrogate mother, Melissa Cook](https://www.genethique.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/gavel-1017953_960_720_7.jpg)
United States: the Supreme Court will not hear the case of surrogate mother, Melissa Cook
Melissa Cook, surrogate mother who hit the headlines in 2015, presented her case to the Supreme Court: pregnant with triplets following a surrogacy agreement in California, the intended father asked her to abort one of the children. A legal battle ensued, also...
![Genetic tests and pre-natal screening: patients’ reactions challenge the predictions of scientists](https://www.genethique.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/06_dpn_genetique_19.jpg)
Genetic tests and pre-natal screening: patients’ reactions challenge the predictions of scientists
For thirty years, predictive genetic tests ("capable of informing a healthy person at the time of the test whether or not he/she will become ill") have been offered to children with one parent suffering from a genetic disease such as Huntingdon's disease. Although the...
![Pope Francis: humans are not just “an aggregate of cells, well-organised and selected through the course of life”](https://www.genethique.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/francois_19.jpg)
Pope Francis: humans are not just “an aggregate of cells, well-organised and selected through the course of life”
"The power of biotechnologies, which now permit manipulations of life that were unthinkable until now, poses formidable questions," emphasised the Pope in his opening address at the XXIIIth General Assembly of the Pontifical Academy for Life. "It is therefore...
![Euthanasia: the Vatican is offering the Belgian Brothers of Charity Organisation “one last chance”](https://www.genethique.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/pixabay_-cemetery-1670223_0-1080x675.jpg)
Euthanasia: the Vatican is offering the Belgian Brothers of Charity Organisation “one last chance”
Brother René Stockman, Superior General of the Brothers of Charity met with the Vatican’s competent authorities “about the current decision concerning the practice of euthanasia in the establishments of the Brothers of Charity in Belgium”. The Belgian Brothers...
![Organ donation and the Internet in Belgium: “Donation must remain a voluntary act”](https://www.genethique.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/istock-171156344_6.jpg)
Organ donation and the Internet in Belgium: “Donation must remain a voluntary act”
The Belgian Advisory Committee on Bioethics has just addressed the ethics of a new way of searching for kidneys or a liver with a view to transplantation. To date, patients waiting for a transplant can either ask a living relative to donate an organ or else...
![Myotubular myopathy: launch of the first human gene therapy trial](https://www.genethique.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/medic-563423_340_0.jpg)
Myotubular myopathy: launch of the first human gene therapy trial
As part of a French-American joint venture, the first gene therapy clinical trial for the treatment of myotubular myopathy [1] was launched on 21 September in the United States. A patient presenting this condition was enrolled in the study followed by eleven...
![American College of Physicians still responds negatively to assisted suicide](https://www.genethique.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/17_soins_palliatifs_7-1080x390.jpg)
American College of Physicians still responds negatively to assisted suicide
On 19 September 2017, the ACP [1] clearly reiterated "its opposition to any participation in assisted suicide by doctors". The association believes "that assisted suicide harms the trusting relationship between doctors and their patients" and "damages the...
![Euthanasia: the conscience clause of Belgian doctors under threat](https://www.genethique.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/07_objection_conscience_4.jpg)
Euthanasia: the conscience clause of Belgian doctors under threat
The National Council of the Belgian Medical Association issued a statement on 6 May 2017 challenging the law on conscientious objection. It is devising an ethical obligation on the part of doctors to inform patients and to "direct them to a medical establishment...
![International Safe Abortion Day: One of Us calls for protection of human beings from conception onwards](https://www.genethique.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/dsc0020-2.jpg)
International Safe Abortion Day: One of Us calls for protection of human beings from conception onwards
A press release was issued by One of Us[1] in response to the "so-called feminist movement ‘Abortion: women decide!’ on the right to abortion", confirming that "equality for all human beings calls for protection right from conception", for the embryo, "one of us"....
![Cloned human embryos undergo “DNA surgery”](https://www.genethique.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/genome_editing_-_freeimages.jpg)
Cloned human embryos undergo “DNA surgery”
In China, a team of scientists carried out "chemical surgery" on human embryos to "correct an error" in their genetic code. They used "basic editing" for this, i.e. the corrected DNA[1]. The human embryos used were carrying beta-thalassaemia - a hereditary disease...
![Ireland: abortion referendum set for spring 2018](https://www.genethique.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/istock-104260554.jpg)
Ireland: abortion referendum set for spring 2018
Giving in to "pressure from pro-abortion campaigners", the Irish Government has announced "plans to carry out a referendum on abortion" in the spring of 2018 (see Ireland: heading towards a referendum to extend access to abortion by the end of 2017?). The debate will...
![Umbilical cord stem cells to treat heart failure?](https://www.genethique.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/cellules_souches_-_freeimages.jpg)
Umbilical cord stem cells to treat heart failure?
In Chile, an initial clinical trial to test treatment with umbilical cord stem cells in thirty patients with heart failure has proved "encouraging". The publication in the American Heart Association journal refers to "notable improvements in cardiac muscle and in...