by Libby Nelson, New York Times, June 26, 2009.
Stem cell researchers in New York can now use public money to pay women who give their eggs for research, a decision that has opened new possibilities for science but raised concern among some bioethicists and opponents of such research. (http://goo.gl/0HEN)
The Empire State Stem Cell Board allowed for egg donors to be paid up to $10,000. There is serious concern that this provision will lead to the exploitation of women and the commodification of human tissue.
by David Cyranoski, Nature News, July 23, 2009.
Two teams of Chinese researchers have created live mice from induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, answering a lingering question about the developmental potential of the cells. (http://goo.gl/WcRC)
This experiment demonstrated that iPS cells are the functional equivalent to embryonic stem cells. This raises a potential ethical concern in that this method theoretically could be used to clone humans.
ScienceDaily, October 4, 2009.
The anticipated onset of a second wave of the H1N1 influenza pandemic could present a host of thorny medical ethics issues best considered well in advance, according to the University of Toronto Joint Centre for Bioethics, which today released nine papers for public discussion. (http://goo.gl/ Ia5K)
The outbreak of the H1N1 virus raised several ethical questions surrounding pandemic preparedness, resource allocation, and vaccine safety. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that about 50 million Americans were infected with the H1N1 virus and about 11, 000 deaths were H1N1-related from April to December of 2009.
by Julie Steenhuysen, Reuters, July 30, 2009.
Tiny synthetic particles carrying a payload of toxin worked as well as chemotherapy at killing ovarian cancer cells in mice, without the bad side effects, U.S. researchers said on Thursday. (http://goo.gl/ k6iM)
It is expected that this technology will be ready for human clinical trials in approximately a year. If successful, this technique could be a promising new treatment for ovarian cancer.
by Bloomberg News, August 18, 2009.
The Geron Corporation said on Tuesday that regulators had held up its study of a therapy for injured spinal cords before even one patient could be enrolled, delaying the first human trial using embryonic stem cells. (http://goo.gl/JGw7)
This is the first clinical trial of embryonic stem cell therapy. Geron later explained that the halt was due to the development of nonproliferative cysts at the injection site in animal models.
by Kevin B. O’Reilly, American Medical News, August 20, 2009. Doctors are right to advise an end to feeding for pediatric patients in a persistent vegetative state and some other circumstances, the association says. (http://goo.gl/BVwO)
The report from the American Academy of Pediatrics stated that it may be ethically permissible for physicians to withdraw artificial nutrition and hydration from pediatric patients with parental consent in limited circumstances, including children in a persistent vegetative state or with anencephaly.
by Ian Sample, Guardian, September 2, 2009.
A British woman who became the first in the world to conceive using a pioneering IVF technique has given birth to a healthy baby boy. The 41-year-old woman was treated by doctors in Nottingham after suffering two miscarriages and having 13 courses of IVF, none of which led to a baby. (http://goo.gl/SYR5)
This procedure is known as array comparative genomic hybridization and allows for eggs to be screened for chromosomal abnormalities prior to fertilization.
by Robert Pear, New York Times, December 24, 2009.
The Senate voted Thursday to reinvent the nation’s health care system, passing a bill to guarantee access to health insurance for tens of millions of Americans and to rein in health costs. (http://goo.gl/9dJf)
The push for healthcare reform dominated the U.S. legislature for much of 2009. At the end of 2009, two bills proposing the creation of a national system of health insurance were passed separately by the House and the Senate and were headed to committee to be combined and to reconcile the differences between the two bills on the public option, abortion insurance, and taxes.
by Richard Alleyne, Telegraph, November 12, 2009.
Scientists are a step closer to producing a controversial “three parent baby” after they successfully fertilised an egg with two biological mothers. (http://goo.gl/E1TE)
In this experiment, the nucleus from one egg was extracted and implanted into the cytoplasm of a different egg and was subsequently fertilized. The technique is believed to help improve the egg quality of older IVF patients by implanting a healthy nucleus into the cytoplasm of an egg from a younger donor.
by Sam Kean, Science Insider, November 24, 2009.
President Barack Obama today established a new presidential council to advise him on bioethical matters. It replaces the sometimes controversial council that advised President George W. Bush. The chair of the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues will be Amy Gutmann, a political scientist and the president of the University of Pennsylvania. The vice chair will be James Wagner, a materials scientist and the president of Emory University in Atlanta. The 13-member commission will have five fewer members than the previous commission. The White House has not indicated when it will name the other 11 members. (http://goo. gl/7lyw)
This new council comes five months after President Obama dismissed the President’s Council on Bioethics appointed by former President Bush, months before their term ended. Given the recent appointees and comments made in the dismissal of the previous council, the new counsel is expected to be more policy oriented.
by Kirk Johnson, New York Times, December 31, 2009.
The Montana Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that state law protects doctors in Montana from prosecution for helping terminally ill patients die. But the court, ruling with a narrow majority, sidestepped the larger landmark question of whether physician-assisted suicide is a right guaranteed under the state’s Constitution. (http://goo. gl/BnEo)
Montana is now the third state to allow physician-assisted suicide. Unlike Oregon and Washington, the legality of physician-assisted suicide was decided through the courts instead of through voter referendum.
*Each of these articles was accessed on February 4, 2010
