News

British Embryo Laws Face Overhaul
BBC News, December 11, 2006
Researchers will be allowed to create test-tube embryos that are part human and part animal under a proposal to be announced by British health officials.
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DNA Gatherers Hit a Snag: The Tribes Don't Trust Them
Amy Harmon, New York Times, December 10, 2006
The National Geographic Society's multi-million-dollar research project to collect DNA samples from indigenous groups around the world with the hope of reconstructing humanity's migrations has come to a standstill in North America.
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Connecticut Takes a Lead in Stem-cell Research Aid
Jennifer Medina, New York Times, December 10, 2006
One researcher will receive $3.5 million to explore how embryonic stem cells might be used to repair skin, muscles, cartilage, and bones. Another will get a few hundred thousand dollars to examine the ways in which such cells could repair neurons damaged by epilepsy and seizures. A third will be funded to track their use in treating Parkinson's and other degenerative brain diseases.
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Australia Lifts Therapeutic Cloning Ban
Rod McGuirk, Washington Post, December 6, 2006
Australian lawmakers rejected the views of their political leaders and lifted a four-year ban on cloning human embryos for stem-cell research.
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Scientist, Police Thyself
Yudhijit Bhattacharjee, ScienceMag.org, December 5, 2006
Thanks to advances in synthetic genomics, an aspiring bioterrorist could turn a harmless virus into a deadly strain -- or make a killer bug from scratch -- by ordering strands of DNA. To address this threat, an independent group of biologists and security experts issued a draft report that lays out options for regulating commercial gene synthesis and academic research in the field.
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Fool's Gold Rush in California
Investor's Business Daily, December 5, 2006
Scientists associated with the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine now admit that a decade of stem-cell research may be insufficient to find cures for even one disease - despite the claims of stem-cell activists.
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Their Bodies, Our Selves
Kerry Howley, Reason, December 5, 2006
"The Catalona Collection" contains thousands of frozen human tissue samples, which are presently housed at Washington University in St. Louis. This collection is at the center of a dispute over the ownership of these samples and their use.
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Falling Behind?
Another Embryonic-stem-cell Claim Refuted
Yuval Levin, National Review, December 4, 2006
Democratic leaders Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid have made clear that overturning President Bush's embryonic-stem-cell-research-funding policy will be high on their agenda when they take the reins of the Congress.
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Australia Lifts Ban on Therapeutic Cloning
Rod Mcguirk, USA Today, December 6, 2006
Australia legalized the cloning of human embryos for stem-cell research with a vote by the House of Representatives that lifted a four-year-old ban on the procedure.
The legislation passed 82-62 in the House, where Prime Minister John Howard and others voted against it. The bill was already passed by the Senate.
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US Congress May Debate New Stem Cell Legislation in New Year
Antony Blackburn-Starza, BioNews.org.co.uk, December 4, 2006
In the United States, the Democrats have indicated that they will push for a vote on stem-cell legislation that would permit additional allocation of federal funding for research.
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Supreme Court to Rule in Pivotal Patent Case
Laura Cutland, East Bay Business Times, December 1, 2006
Leaders of the biotech industry are keeping a close eye on a case before the U.S. Supreme Court that could have major repercussions on their patents.
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IVF Can Lower Chance of Pregnancy
Beezy Marsh, Sunday Telegraph, December 2, 2006
Thousands of women who take high doses of fertility drugs as part of IVF treatment may actually be harming their chances of ever having a baby, doctors are warning. Increasing reliance on such drugs could prevent women from getting pregnant and could damage their eggs, new studies suggest.
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Tissue Banking Raises Cloning Fears
Judy Skatssoon, Science Online, November 27, 2006
A survey of public attitudes toward tissue banking has revealed that some Australians are concerned that tissue samples held by hospitals could be used to make human clones, and many oppose using biopsy tissue as a source of stem cells or by drug companies.
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How Danish Sperm is Conquering the World
Will Pavia, Times Online, November 27, 2006
As sperm donations in Britain slow to a trickle, Denmark has become the sperm donation source for Europe.
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How to Live Long and Prosper
NewScientist.com, November 25, 2006
Researchers at the University of Chicago have found evidence that first-born children were 1.7 times as likely as their siblings to live to be 100. An even stronger predictor of longevity was how young their mother was when they were born; those whose mothers were less than 25 years old were twice as likely to survive beyond a century.
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Genetic Variation: We're More Different Than We Thought
Science Daily, November 24, 2006
New research shows that at least 10 percent of genes in the human population can vary in the number of copies of DNA sequences they contain -- a finding that alters current thinking that the DNA of any two humans is 99.9 percent similar.
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Bionic Foot for Hit and Run Victim
Amanda Crook, Manchester Evening News, November 22, 2006
A new prosthetic foot has been fitted with a mini computer and sensors, which learn and imitate the way its user walks.
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Heart Stem Cells Discovered by Three Teams
Peter Aldhous, NewScientist.com, November 22, 2006
Already been dubbed "master" heart cells, three U.S. research groups claim that they can produce stem cells that give rise to different tissues found in the mammalian heart.
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Stem Cell Bans Advance
Jim Wasserman, The Sacramento Bee, November 21, 2006
A state committee cleared the way for California's stem-cell research program to access $195 million despite legal challenges that continue to block funding.
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Stem Cells the Core of Colon Cancer
CTV.ca, November 20, 2006
Canadian scientists claim to have found evidence that shows stem cells may be responsible for the formation of colon cancer. The finding could be a major step in the discovery of how cancers start, and may lead to more targeted treatments.
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U.N. Leader Urges Biotech Safeguards
New York Times, November 19, 2006
U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan warns that the potential for danger posed by the rapidly growing biotechnology industry is increasing exponentially, and he urges the creation of global safeguards.
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China Admits Taking Executed Prisoners' Organs
Mark Magnier and Alan Zarembo, Los Angeles Times, November 18, 2006
After years of denial, China has acknowledged that most of the human organs used in transplants are taken from executed prisoners and that many of the recipients are foreigners who pay hefty sums to avoid long waits.
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Cloning's Out, But Stem Cell R&D; Will Have Rules
Kounteya Sinha, Times of India, November 17, 2006
Unregulated stem-cell research in India is expected to end via with government guidelines that disallow human cloning, make donor consent mandatory for embryonic stem-cell research, and place strict conditions on in vitro culture of human embryos.
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Researchers Making Strides in Stem Cell Technology
Mike Enright, The Minnesota Daily, November 14, 2006
Although embryonic stem-cell research is fraught with problems, university scientists are making advances studying other types of stem cells.
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Still Waiting for Personalized Medicine
Emily Singer, Technology Review, November 14, 2006
A new product, marketed by the Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche and approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in January 2005, has the potential to make pharmacogenomics broadly accessible. Called the AmpliChip CYP450 assay, it uses genetic analyses to ascertain how quickly people metabolize certain drugs, thus predicting who is most likely to experience unpleasant or even toxic side effects.
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Part I: The Glimmering Promise of Gene Therapy
Horace Freeland Judson, Technology Review, November 2006
Its history is marred by failures, false hopes, and even death, but gene therapy may still hold the promise of a cure. Now, there appears to be some reason to believe that it may actually work.
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Part II: The Glimmering Promise of Gene Therapy
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Beyond Bioethics: A Proposal for Modernizing the Regulation of Human Biotechnologies
Francis Fukuyama and Franco Furger, Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, November 2006
This report provides a comprehensive examination of possible U.S. legislative and/or regulatory solutions to the issues raised by biotechnologies. It argues that sweeping legislation is an inadequate and counterproductive societal response to modern bioethical dilemmas. full report

Working with Stem Cells? Pay Up
Glenn McGee, The Scientist, November 14, 2006
In August 2001, bioethicist Glenn McGee stated before a U.S. Senate subcommittee that as much as half of stem cell revenue would likely end up going to patent holders because of absurd patents on the human embryo.
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Speaker Explores Ethical Issues in Stem Cell Research
Sherry Fisher, University of Connecticut Magazine, November 13, 2006
Research involving human stem cells may one day help cure conditions, such as Parkinson's disease, but experiments that transplant human stem cells into prenatal non-humans pose serious ethical concerns, according to ethicist Cynthia Cohen.
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Death with Dignity to be Allowed from Next Month
Judy Siegel-Itzkovich, Jerusalem Post, November 12, 2006
After eight years of preparation and a year after Knesset approval, the law relating to dying patients will take effect, enabling Israelis to submit forms to the Health Ministry declaring how they would like to be treated if they became terminally ill.
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Mortal Combat: The Exploding Politics of Biotechnology
William Saletan, Slate.com, November 11, 2006
For better or worse, biotechnology has become the new divisive issue in American politics, as seen in the recent election.
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Generic Biotech Drugs Backed
Daniel Costello, Los Angeles Times, November 11, 2006
Democratic control of Congress is expected to lead to legislation allowing generic versions of popular drugs, lowering their costs.
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The Role of Brain Research in National Defense
Jonathan D. Moreno, Chronicle of Higher Education, November 10, 2006
Whatever the future holds for neuroscience, it would be naïve to imagine that national-security organizations are not monitoring developments in the field. The author f this article suggests that it is time to start a public conversation about the role of brain research in national defense.
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Kansas May Push for Stem Cell Amendment
Scott Rothschild, Lawrence Journal-World, November 10, 2006
Kansas officials say they may push for a stem-cell research amendment, similar to one that narrowly passed in Missouri.
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Public Supports Anonymity for Sperm Donors
Sarah Hall, The Guardian, November 10, 2006
People who donate their sperm or eggs to infertile couples should have the right to remain anonymous, according to a survey of British attitudes about fertility treatment.
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New Regulatory Body Likely for GM Crops
The Financial Express, November 9, 2006
India is likely to establish a new regulatory body for overseeing genetically modified (GM) crops. A common regulatory authority for all biotechnological applications, including GM crops and food, recombinant pharmaceuticals, transgenic livestock has been recommended.
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New York Doctor Given Go-ahead for World's First Womb Transplant
Julie Wheldon, Daily Mail, November 9, 2006
Doctors are hoping to carry out the world's first womb transplant and have begun interviewing prospective patients. An American team has been given approval for the groundbreaking operation following laboratory experiments on animals.
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Rules Needed Now on Surrogate Birth
Yomiuri Shimbun, Daily Yomiuri Online, November 8, 2006
Reproductive medicine has advanced rapidly, but the author of this article contends that there has been no advancement in Japan¹s laws governing pregnancy, birth, and paternity.
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Nazi 'Master Race' Children Meet
BBC News, November 4, 2006
A group of children selected by Adolf Hitler's Nazi regime with the aim of creating an Aryan master race has met openly for the first time as adults.
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Public Consulted Over DNA Fears
BBC News, November 1, 2006
The public will be asked whether the DNA database has expanded too much, amid concerns the innocent are discriminated against. The UK holds 3.6 million samples in the world's largest DNA database. The Nuffield Council on Bioethics will hear views on the socioeconomic and ethnic makeup of the database.
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Test-tube Livers
William Saletan, Slate.com, November 1, 2006
Scientists claim to have grown "mini-livers" in the lab. Within a year, these artificial livers may be used, rather than volunteer humans or animals, to test drugs.
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Family Cancer Risk 'Without Gene'
BBC News, October 31, 2006
Women with a family history of breast cancer have a greater chance of getting the disease even without inheriting the "high risk" genes, scientists say.
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'Selling My Eggs Could Clear My Debts'
Rachel MacManus, BBC News, October 30, 2006
One in six British couples struggles to have a baby. Alexandra Saunders from High Wycombe has advertised her eggs on the Internet and hopes to make enough money to pay off credit card debt.
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NIH's New Ethics Rules Lead Some to Ponder Jumping Ship
Rita Beamish, Associated Press, October 30, 2006
Nearly 40 percent of the scientists conducting hands-on research at the National Institutes of Health say they are looking for other jobs or are considering doing so to escape new ethics rules that have curtailed their opportunity to earn outside income.
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Genetic 'Breakthrough' Offers Hope to Schizophrenia Victims
Sarah Hall, The Guardian, October 30, 2006
Scientists have discovered a variation in a gene in people at risk of schizophrenia that strongly suggests they will develop the condition. Brain scans of young people predisposed to schizophrenia show that those who go on to develop the symptoms of the disorder have the mutated gene.
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Stem Cell Debate Heats Up Over Wording
Matt Franck, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 29, 2006
The political battle over a constitutional amendment to protect embryonic stem cell research has increasingly placed the ballot measure itself under the microscope, fueling bitter disagreement over its legal meaning.
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Fallen Stem Cell Scientist Blames a Conspiracy
Bruce Wallace, Los Angeles Times, October 28, 2006
The South Korean researcher testifies that his lab assistants deceived him and that he can prove his work.
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Gene Therapy May Improve Sexual Function in Diabetic Men
Ian Sample, The Guardian, October 27, 2006
Scientists have conducted successful tests of a gene therapy designed to improve sexual function in men with diabetes.
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Women Freeze Eggs in Wait for Right Partner, US Study Finds
Ian Sample, The Guardian, October 27, 2006
Some women are electing to freeze their eggs to take the pressure off of finding Mr. Right, according to the first study on women's motivations to use the service.
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Pay Egg Donors, Say Fertility Specialists
Jeremy Laurance, The Independent, October 26, 2006
Women should be paid to donate their eggs to ease a shortage in the UK, which leads to long wait lists at fertility clinics, specialists said. The removal of anonymity from egg and sperm donors in Britain in April of last year has triggered a decline in donors, forcing patients to seek treatment abroad.
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Reproduction Revolution: Sex for Fun, IVF for Children
Jo Whelan, New Scientist, October 20, 2006
Could we be moving toward an era in which entering nature's genetic lottery is no longer seen as a desirable way to bring a child into the world? Might natural conception even come to be thought of as "irresponsible"?
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Misleading Missouri
Yuval Levin, National Review, October 19, 2006
This November, voters in Missouri will be asked to consider a ballot initiative on human cloning and embryonic-stem-cell research. The initiative has been the focus of an intense (if lopsided) campaign in the state for months, with millions of dollars in ads calling for passage. But many of the most basic facts about just what the proposal says and aims to do have not fully emerged.
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Stem Cell Issue Roils Missouri Race
David A. Lieb, Associated Press, October 26, 2006
Ailing actor Michael J. Fox, rock star cancer-survivor Sheryl Crow, Super Bowl hero Kurt Warner, World Series pitcher Jeff Suppan, and celebrities galore have all given voters their two cents on the stem-cell issue, which is at the forefront of the November elections in Missouri.
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Team Develops DNA Switch to Interface Living Organisms with Computers
Physorg.com, October 25, 2006
Researchers at the University of Portsmouth, UK, have developed an electronic switch based on DNA -- a world-first bio-nanotechnology breakthrough that provides the foundation for the interface between living organisms and the computer world.
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DNA Testing a Mixed Bag for Immigrants
N.C. Aizenman, The Washington Post, October 25, 2006
DNA testing has emerged as a powerful and sometimes controversial tool for U.S. residents seeking to help overseas relatives enter the country legally.
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DNA Database 'Should Include All'
George Jones, Telegraph, October 24, 2006
Tony Blair has called for the national DNA database to be expanded to include every citizen. He said there should be no limit on the development of the database because it is vital for catching serious criminals.
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'Personalized' Cancer Drug Test
BBC News, Oct. 22, 2006
A gene test that predicts which cancer drugs will be most effective for different people will be tested by Duke University researchers.
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Biologists Want to Drop the Word 'Cloning'
New Scientist, October 21, 2006
Scientists want the term "somatic cell nuclear transfer" (SCNT) to be used instead of "therapeutic cloning" for the technique that produces cloned embryos from which stem cells can then be isolated.
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Genetic Crossroads: California Victory - Standards and Safeguards on Egg Donation
Center for Genetics and Society, October 20, 2006
California has become the first U.S. state to legislate a set of standards and safeguards for procuring women's eggs for cloning and stem-cell research.
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Fact Sheet on SB 1260
Full Text of SB 1260

Religion a Prominent Cloned-food Issue
Rick Weiss, The Washington Post, October 19, 2006
With federal officials close to approving the sale of meat and milk from cloned livestock and their offspring, experts for and against that policy claim that such decisions should be based not only on the question of human safety but also on issues of ethics and animal welfare.
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FDA is Set to Approve Milk, Meat from Clones
Rick Weiss, Washington Post, October 17, 2006
Three years after the Food and Drug Administration first hinted that it might permit the sale of milk and meat from cloned animals, prompting public reactions that ranged from curiosity to disgust, the agency is poised to endorse marketing of the mass-produced animals for public consumption.
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Human Species 'May Split in Two'
BBC News, October 17, 2006
Evolutionary theorist Oliver Curry of the London School of Economics expects a genetic upper class and a genetic underclass to emerge.
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Mutated Gene Raises Autism Risk, Study Finds
Reuters, CNN.com, October 16, 2006
U.S. researchers claim that they have identified a genetic mutation that raises the risk of autism and could also explain some of the other symptoms seen in children with autism.
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Zimbabwe: Concerns Raised over New Biotechnology Law
Deborah-Fay Ndlovu, Zimbabwe Standard, October 15, 2006
President Robert Mugabe gave his seal of approval to the controversial National Biotechnology Authority Act, paving way for the establishment of an authority to regulate the activities of the industry.
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Body of Research ‹ Ownership and Use of Human Tissue
R. Alta Charo, New England Journal of Medicine, October 15, 2006
Nearly 20 years after the California courts decided Moore v. Regents - a seminal case concerning a patient's interest in the profits derived from patents on a cell line generated from his spleen tissue - U.S. jurisprudence still has no coherent answer to a deceptively simple question: Do we own our own bodies?
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Gene Mutation Turns Girls into Boys
Kerri Smith, Nature.com, October 15, 2006
A gene has now been discovered that, when mutated, turns girls into boys. The finding advances, but also complicates, understanding of how sex is determined by genes.
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Plea to Women Banking Cord Blood
BBC News, October 13, 2006
New mothers should be discouraged from banking their umbilical-cord blood as insurance in case their child gets ill later in life, an expert says.
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A Database for Disease
Corinna Wu, Technology Review, October 13, 2006
A genetic "roadmap" will help to find treatments for diseases, by looking at the signatures that drugs leave behind.
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New Tools May Lead to Genetic 'Scoring'
Thomas Lee, Star Tribune, October 11, 2006
New technology that can help diagnose diseases and determine hereditary predisposition raises a number of ethical and legal issues.
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California Dreaming
BioEdge 222, October 10, 2006
The word from the world's best-funded stem-cell institute is that there will be no cures for at least 15 years.
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State by State Stem Cell Round-up
BioEdge 222, October 10, 2006
With November elections around the corner, a number of races in the United States could be decided by voters' views on human embryonic stem-cell research.
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Consent is the Key in the Recording, Use and Sharing of Genetic Information and Test Results
Peter Farndon, BioNews.org, October 9, 2006
The accepted principles of medical consent may need to be revised in consideration of issues involved in genetic testing and information sharing.
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New Breast Cancer Risk Gene Discovered
Jess Buxton, BioNews.org, October 9, 2006
Researchers based at the UK's Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) have discovered that women who inherit a faulty version of a gene called BRIP1 have an increased risk of developing breast cancer. The scientists, who reported the findings at the National Cancer Research Institute conference and in the latest issue of the journal Nature Genetics, say that the discovery could lead to better diagnosis and more tailored treatment in the future.
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What Makes Us Different?
Michael Lemonick and Andrea Dorfman, Time, October 9, 2006
As our species developed, a few tiny changes in DNA made all the difference. This article takes an in-depth look at the science and history of genetics and what it means to be human.
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Gene-based Anti-depressant Treatment
Laura Bell, BioNews.org, October 6, 2006
Two studies published this week in Science, and in the Journal of the American Medical Association may help identify the most effective type of anti-depressant medication for individuals, depending on their genetic make up.
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A New Political Action Committee Enters the Fray
Wesley J. Smith, Weekly Standard, October 5, 2006
This author argues that, increasingly, scientists and the leaders of the science sector are devolving science from the apolitical pursuit of knowledge into a distinctly ideological enterprise.
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Plans Unveiled for State-financed Stem Cell Work in California
Nicholas Wade, New York Times, October 5, 2006
The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine issued a plan for how it intends to spend the $3 billion assigned by the state's voters to finance stem-cell research.
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Stem Cell Experts Seek License to Create Human-rabbit Embryo
Ian Sample, The Guardian, October 5, 2006
British scientists are seeking approval to create embryos by fusing human cells with animal eggs. This controversial research is geared toward the study of diseases for the creation of new drugs.
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Stem Cell Patents Get a Review
Bernadette Tansey, San Francisco Chronicle, October 4, 2006
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has agreed to re-evaluate the validity of three core stem-cell patents held by a Wisconsin foundation that has been accused of strangling U.S. research in the field due to its demands for license fees and royalties.
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$10m Prize for Super Genetic Test
Matthew Davis, BBC News, October 4, 2006
The U.S.-based X-Prize Foundation is offering what it says is the largest medical prize in history -- $10 million -- to the first private team to decode 100 human genomes in ten days.
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NHGRI Funds Assessment of Public Attitudes About Population-based Studies on Genes and Environment
Medical News Today, October 4, 2006
The National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) announced it has awarded $2 million to the Genetics and Public Policy Center of the Berman Bioethics Institute at Johns Hopkins University to conduct a public discussion about future potential, large, U.S. population-based studies examining the roles of genes and environment in human health.
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Genes No Predictor of Adult Health and Longevity
bioEdge.com, October 3, 2006
Recent studies find that genes may not be as critical as previously thought in determining how long someone will live and whether a person develop certain diseases. This presents a new wrinkle in the screening of IVF embryos.
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PVS Patients Could be Useful for Experiments
bioEdge.com, October 3, 2006
A discussion in the current Journal of Medical Ethics shows that there is a growing interest in using the bodies of patients in a persistent vegetative state for medical experiments.
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Has Embryonic Stem Cell Science Been Oversold
bioEdge.com, October 3, 2006
In the wake of overblown claims by Advanced Cell Technology that it had developed an ethical method of deriving embryonic stem cells, concern about the reporting of such scientific "breakthroughs" is mounting.
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Cloning Without Stem Cells Works
BBC News, October 2, 2006
U.S. scientists say stem cells are not necessary for cloning, and other cells may even be better candidates.
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IOM Convenes Panel of Medical Experts to Discuss Health Risks Linked to Human Egg Donation
KaiserNetwork.org, October 2, 2006
The Institute of Medicine reported that, while medical and psychological risks associated with human egg donation for the purposes of embryonic stem-cell research exist, they are not serious enough to restrict research in the field.
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Behavioral Genetics and Risk of 'Criminality'
Mairi Levitt, BioNews.org, October 1, 2006
A U.S. lawyer argues that his client should undergo genetic testing to determine whether he is genetically predisposed to criminal behavior.
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Can Vaccines Cure Our Bad Habits?
Ronald Kotulak, Chicago Tribune, October 1, 2006
Vaccines, the most potent medical weapon ever devised to vanquish deadly germs, are now being called on to do something totally different and culturally revolutionary --inoculate people against bad habits like overeating, smoking, and drug use.
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Supersensitive Profiling Deciphers Wisps of DNA
John Pickrell, NewScientist.com, October 2006
Police in the UK are testing a new DNA profiling technique that may help to decipher previously inscrutable samples and resolve unsolved crimes.
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Ova for Sale
Kerry Howley, Reason, October 2006
An egg donor explores the history of IVF and recounts her experience dealing in the market for human eggs.
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The Case for a Regulated System of Living Kidney Sales
Abdallah S. Daar, Nature Clinical Practice Nephrology, September 6, 2006
Black markets for kidneys encourage exploitation of the poor and harm both donors and recipients. As the buying and selling of organs increases despite legislation, this author argues that failure to regulate these practices could be considered unethical.
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