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Lesbians and male role models
In Britain, the Conservative Party has challenged the government to block lesbian couples from receiving IVF treatment unless they can provide a ‘male role model’ for their child. This is part of a proposed amendment to the human fertilisation and embryology bill which is currently before the parliament. Such a change would be a very…
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Kissing Cousins
Robin McKie, the science editor for The Observer on Sunday is predicting a major row later this month when scientists and health experts in the United Kingdom hold two key meetings to debate the issue of cousin marriage and its impact on health in Britain. (See http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2008/may/11/genetics.medicalresearch?gusrc=rss&feed=networkfront). This is not the first time that the…
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Hunger is the best spice
Ghrelin is a hormone produced in the stomach that appears to stimulate appetite. A recent paper in Cell Metabolism shows that giving ghrelin to volunteers made their brains respond more strongly to food images, reward systems in the brain became more active and they rated their level of hunger higher. An immediate reaction in the…
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The viability of fetuses and the abortion debate
The claim about viability is not about whether or not premature infants at 21 or 22 or 23 weeks do survive, it is about whether they can survive, (if all medical care were available, and the doctors tried hard to keep them alive). The London study tells us more about that, but because of selection…
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Global Warming and the Hidden Costs of Aviation
A recent study reveals that aviation might pump 20% more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere by 2025 as previously estimated. Vexing is not the possibly underestimated figure; but the fact that this study was only recently uncovered: As covered by The Independent or Spiegel Online, the British environmental association Aviation Environmental Federation now presents the…
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Towards Ethical Foie Gras?
Often the source of our worries about eating animals and the basis of arguments against it seems to turn on the pain and suffering of the animal in question. With advances in biotechnology such as cloning and genetic manipulation it may at some point be possible to engineer animals that do not feel pain or…
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Sleeping policemen and garden sheds
Big Brother, it seems, has been asleep on the job. Even though it is said that we in the UK are more subject to surveillance than any other society, peered at by cameras wherever we go about our innocent business, today’s headlines tell us that this intrusion is not even fulfilling its purpose of catching…
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The Apeman and the Scotsman: the slippery slope to humanzees
In the Scotsman this week there is an interview with a scientist who has claimed that a loophole in the draft UK Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill is likely to lead to the creation of hybrid human-apes or “humanzees”. In essence this argument is a slippery slope objection to the proposed changes in the powers…
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Genetic discrimination and the future of health insurance
The US Congress today passed legislation banning the use of genetic information by insurance companies, unions and employers. As Dominic Wilkinson noted in his post on 26 April, this legislation might have interesting implications for professional sport. The reform also raises questions about the future of insurance markets.
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The Choice to Have Artificial Blood: Less than the Best?
Controversy has erupted around whether experiments to test artificial blood should stop. Experimental blood substitutes raised the risk of heart attack and death, yet U.S. regulators allowed human testing to continue despite warning signs, says a scathing new report. Blood substitutes, or artificial blood, could be stored for years without refrigeration, and be used in…