US bioethics centre queried about ties to drug industry
The US Senate's Finance Committee has asked seven organisations, including the well-known Center for Practical Bioethics, in Kansas City, for information about financial ties to...
A dramatic shift of direction for a stem cell advocate
Michael J. Fox has changed his mind on human embryonic stem cell researchFive or six years ago the ethical dilemmas in human embryonic stem cell...
Indian surrogate for US woman dies in Gurjarat
Indian IVF clinics are glad to showcase their bevies of happy surrogate mothers who have become pregnant for foreign couples who want children. But not...
The all-too-human failings of scientists
Hi there, The novelist Sinclair Lewis is little read nowadays, even though he was the first American to win a Nobel Prize for literature. From...
Shock therapy under fire in Massachusetts
A controversy has erupted in Massachusetts over the use of skin shock therapy for troubled teenagers. The Judge Rotenberg Educational Center in the suburb of...
Germany uneasy about teen cosmetic surgery
The German government is drafting legislation to ban cosmetic surgery for teenagers except for medical reasons. At the moment, there is no minimum age. As...
Should Big Pharma fund bioethics?
Gadfly: a person who annoys or criticizes others in order to provoke them into action. There is no better word to describe Carl Elliott, a...
“I found my embryos on Craigslist”
Two couples, in Chicago and Florida, found their embryos through a Craigslist discussion group from an Iowa couple who had 18 spare embryos. Deb and...
Powdered baby flesh sold to South Koreans
Thousands of drug capsules made from powdered baby flesh in China have been confiscated by South Korea customs agents. They were manufactured in northern China...
More data rolls in about IVF birth defects
The contentious issue of birth defects in babies conceived with IVF is on the boil again after a major study was published this week in...
Assisted suicide or murder?
Hi there, You may recall a very unusual murder case in New York last year. A well-known motivational speaker, Jeffrey Locker, hired a drug addict,...
Bioethics and the 2012 election: Romney’s surrogate grandsons
Mitt Romney's eldest son Tagg now has three children born from a surrogate mother. Entering national politics is a bit like strip mining the family...