The Rogue Senator and the Protection of Genetic Information
The editors of Nature have today called for the US Senate to bypass Senator Tom Coburn’s (Republican,
Read More »The Rogue Senator and the Protection of Genetic Information
The Rogue Senator and the Protection of Genetic Information
Dangerous ‘drugs’: the war on fake malaria pills
An international collaboration between public health researchers, forensic scientists and police has led to the identification and arrest of individuals responsible for distributing fake anti-malaria pills (artesunate). Analysis of the air around fake tablets in blister packs, trace amounts of pollen found inside the blisters, and the composition of the tablets themselves provided evidence that the drugs were being made in southern China. This information was provided by Interpol to the Chinese government, which subsequently made the arrests, though the producer is yet to be tracked down.
There is a huge international trade in fake pharmaceuticals, many of which, like fake DVDs, watches or clothing are made in south-east Asia. People sometimes express ambivalence about pirate software or DVDs. However pirate pharmaceuticals have significant implications for public health.
Earache for teenagers
The BBC today
reported calls to scrap an acoustic device designed to disperse crowds of
troublesome teenagers. There are 3,500
such ‘Mosquito’ devices in use in England, which work by emitting a
sound normally audible only to those under the age of 25. The sound is turned on for 20 seconds at a
time, and becomes irritating after around 15 seconds, causing those who can
hear it to move away. Typically, the
devices are installed in areas where groups of teenagers gather, such as
shopping precincts.
A Knee-Jerk Reaction?
An article was published in Science on Friday (8 February 2008) reporting the results of a study on the generation of energy via an ‘energy harvester’ mounted on the human knee. The authors of the article begin by noting that humans are a rich source of energy. Indeed it seems that the average person stores the same amount of energy in fat as a 1000kg battery. There have been previous attempt to harvest this energy, including a device that generates energy from the compression of the sole of the shoe and a device that generates energy by harnessing the vertical oscillations of a spring-loaded back pack. However, it seems that none of these are as effective as the new knee-mounted device, which generates an average 5 watts of electricity per knee-mounted device. This is ten times more effective than the shoe-worn alternative and more effective than the spring-loaded backpack, which weighs 38kg. Each knee-mounted device weighs 1.6kg. However, the devices studied are prototypes and researchers working on the project are hopeful of making energy harvesters which are smaller and lighter.
Preventing birth to teenage parents is discriminatory
The UK government announced this week a multi-million pound program to make contraception more easily available to young people and to reduce teenage pregnancies. Britain has the highest teenage pregnancy rate in Europe.
If they are effective, these measures will prevent the birth of a large number of children whose lives would have been worth living. Is it discriminatory to try to prevent the birth of children to teenage mothers? What message does this send to those children in the community who have been born to teenagers about how we value their lives?
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Fluoride and the Future: Population Level Cognitive Enhancement
Health Secretary Alan Johnson wants to fluoride to be added to England’s water supplies to tackle tooth decay.
He wants health authorities to compel water companies to add the chemical.
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Corrupted Science. Peer reviewer leaks information to drug manufacturer
A well-known diabetes expert has abused his
function as peer reviewer for the renowned The New England Journal of Medicine. The reviewer broke confidentiality and leaked
a damaging report about a substantial hike in the risk of
heart attack when using the popular diabetes drug rosiglitazone, sold under the
brand name Avandia, to the drug’s manufacturer
weeks ahead of publication (see Nature or ScienceNews).
of independence and integrity of scientific journals and all codes of scientific
conduct. But there seems to be more
to the whole story than the violation of blatant rules by an individual. The NZZ views this incident as the “gateway
to a yawning abyss” that opens up a fatal sleaze between medical industry
and medical research.
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A child of many parents: a new way to have two mothers
The Guardian and Telegraph, are today reporting that British scientists have created ten human embryos which each include DNA from one man and two women. This was done by taking a one day old IVF embryo and removing its pronuclei (the parts containing the chromosomes from the parents). These were then inserted into an egg cell from the second woman, which has had its nucleus removed. The result is a new embryo with its primary DNA coming from a man and a woman, and the body of its cell coming from the second woman. This is an amazing experiment, and comes hot on the heels of other multi-parent experiments, but why has it been performed and what are the ethical implications?
Read More »A child of many parents: a new way to have two mothers
The Daily Mail reports on a helmet that supposedly ‘could reverse the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease within weeks of being used’. The helmet uses near infrared light, which can penetrate the skull of patients. According to the Mail: Its creators believe it could reverse the symptoms of dementia – such as memory loss and anxiety… Read More »
Meet Mom, Mom and Mom: is there anything wrong with same-sex genetic parents?
The Daily Mail reports on a New Scientist article about the possibilities of same-sex reproduction. Researchers at Newcastle upon Tyne have coaxed stem cells in male bone marrow to developing into spermatogonia, which in turn have been coaxed to divide into sperm cells. According to New Scientist they may have succeeded in producing spermatogonia from female marrow, and are now working on the final step to turn them into sperm. In that case it would be possible for two women to be the genetic parents of a child. Other research aims at turning skin cells into eggs, which could allow two males to be genetic parents of a child (with the help of a surrogate mother). While the research aims at helping infertility the obvious possibility is same-sex parenthood. Is it a good idea to create kids with two or three moms, or two dads and a mom?
Read More »Meet Mom, Mom and Mom: is there anything wrong with same-sex genetic parents?