This Week — CBHD Fellow, Gregory W. Rutecki, MD, comments on recent articles discussing healthcare disparities in vulnerable populations, in “What has justice to do with medical quality and safety? Care, cultural diversity, and the vulnerable among us.”

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Also This Week — Check out our new Facebook Cause & Linked-In Group.

Quote of the Week —

— Dr. George Daley, president of The International Society for Stem Cell Research and a stem cell researcher at Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, in "Stem cell experts offer guide to fight "snake oil," Reuters, June 12, 2008.

2008 AUL Legal Institute
June 23-26, 2008
Moody Bible Institue
Chicago, IL
Phone: 312/492.7234

Stem Cell Research and Commercial Applications: Isolation, Expansion, Therapy, Commercialisation and Manufacturing
June 25-26, 20008
Sheraton Towers Hotel, Singapore
Email: greg.moyle@informa.com
Fax: +65 65143173

UNESCO Ethics Teacher Training Course
November 17-21, 2008
Minsk, Belarus

House Passes Legislation to Strengthen Nanotechnology Safety Research, Industry
H.R. 5940, the National Nanotechnology Initiative Amendments Act of 2008 passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 407 to 6. H.R. 5940 reauthorizes and refines the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI), notably strengthening the commitment to environmental and safety research. “The promise of nanotechnology is enormous, but potential downsides need to be addressed from the beginning in a thorough, transparent process,” said Chairman Bart Gordon (D-TN). “The federal interagency nanotechnology research program has not yet put in place a well designed, adequately funded, and effectively executed research program focused on the environmental and safety aspects of nanotechnology. H.R. 5940 addresses this deficiency by requiring that a research plan, with detailed objectives and funding targets, be developed and quickly implemented.” (NanoTechWire.com)

Human clone may be days away
AUSTRALIA’S first licences to clone human embryos could be granted as early as this week. A National Health and Medical Research Council panel met in Canberra on Friday to consider applications from two separate research groups. (The Daily Telegraph)

Monday, June 9, 2008

Scientists Close to Reconstructing First Living Cell
Modern cells are like microscopic cities: They have power plants (mitochondria), trash dumps (lysosomes), local government (the nucleus, with DNA serving as the legal charter), and many other activities going on inside their boundaries. They also have a border patrol in the form of a double-layered membrane that uses a series of protein-powered pumps, pores and channels to let nutrients in and keep other chemicals and substances out. (Scientific American)

Therapeutic Potential Of Cord Blood Stem Cells Enhanced With New Technology
A CD26 Inhibitor increases the efficiency and responsiveness of umbilical cord blood for bone marrow transplants and may improve care for blood cancer patients according to research from Rush University Medical Center being presented at the 6th Annual International Umbilical Cord Blood Transplantation Symposium, June 6-7 in Los Angeles. (ScienceDaily)

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Egg shortage hits race to clone human stem cells
US stem-cell researchers are calling for changes to state laws that prohibit compensating women who donate eggs for research. The laws, in leading stem-cell research states such as Massachusetts and California, are crippling the promising field of ‘therapeutic cloning’ that could produce useful embryonic stem-cell lines for studying various human diseases, they say. (Nature)

Stem Cell Discovery Sheds Light On Placenta Development
Researchers studying embryonic stem cells have explored the first fork in the developmental road, getting a new look at what happens when fertilized eggs differentiate to build either an embryo or a placenta. (ScienceDaily)

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

AMA to consider endorsing undercover patients
Lori Erickson-Trump has faked headaches and back pain. She’s had physicals and MRIs she didn’t need and she gets paid for it - all to evaluate the performance of doctors and their staffs. (AP)

Q&A: Advocating open source drugs
Leading geneticist Samir Brahmachari explains why India should kickstart a new ‘open source’ approach to drug discovery for diseases like TB. (SciDev)

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Book Review: Embryo: A Defense of Human Life
“Embryo: A Defense of Human Life” by Robert P. George and Christopher Tollefsen is different. It delves beneath the surface of the current debate to analyze the ethical issue at stake. Embryonic stem-cell research confronts us with the question whether we may ever directly destroy an innocent human life solely for expected benefits to others. (The-Tidings)

Million-Dollar Babies
Preemies are a quickly expanding class of patients in the U.S., Britain, and other advanced nations. And the costs and technical challenges of caring for them are a growing source of controversy. Nearly 13% of all babies in the U.S. are preemies, a 20% increase since 1990. A 2006 report by the National Academy of Sciences found that the 550,000 preemies born each year in the U.S. run up about $26 billion in annual costs, mostly related to care in NICUs. (BusinessWeek)

Friday, June 13, 2008

Each week the top news stories, as determined by the staff at The Center for Bioethics & Human Dignity are sent out via email.

[Note: News stories, Quote of the Week, and events do not represent the Center's views. For additional commentary on many of the issues they raise, please see the CBHD web site at www.cbhd.org.]

Please visit http://www.bioethics.com for daily posts on bioethics news and issues.

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