Growing support for “conscience clause” in US health care
Doctors, nurses and pharmacists who have a conscientious objection to abortion, the morning-after pill or contraception are winning more support in the US Congress and...
Bush v Kerry on health
Life issues appear to be the most radical differences between American presidential candidates George Bush and John Kerry in their health and science policies. In...
Discussing death with children should not be taboo
The UK lobby group GeneWatch claims that companies are preparing to market gene tests for a "susceptibility" to a disease and that this could frighten...
Call for referendum to reverse Italian fertility law
Critics of Italy's strict new law regulating the fertility industry are scrambling to get half a million signatures by September 30 so that they can...
India’s census pinpoints the disappearing girls
The sex ratio of India's children is notoriously skewed in favour of boys, but recently-released figures from the 2001 census give a more detailed breakdown...
IN BRIEF: placebos; teenagers; embryo licence fees
A survey of Israeli doctors suggests that they often give inactive "placebo" pills to their patients and then lie by telling them that they are...
Germany’s National Ethics Council rejects therapeutic cloning
Germany's National Ethics Council announced this week that it was still opposed to cloning embryos for research despite pressure from scientists who are excited by...
Why not use artificial gametes, asks British bioethicist
A UK bioethicist has used the leading journal Science to argue for the right to use artificial sperm and eggs derived from human embryonic stem...
20 Dutch children a year euthanased, doctors admit
In the wake of news that a Dutch hospital has written a protocol to allow the involuntary euthanasia of children, one of the authors has...
Road to profit in IVF like “fast food industry”
A business profile of the two largest IVF practices in the Australian state of New South Wales shows that they have extraordinary potential" for profitability....
Clinical trials to become more transparent
Glowing results from clinical trials may be due to successful experiments -- or to the fact that none of the failures have been reported. And...
Should dying patients recruit their own donors?
A Texas man who found a liver donor by advertising on billboards and the internet is being imitated by other sick people who are impatient...