by Bo Gu, NBC News, June 14, 2012.
Feng Jianmei, 22 years old and seven months pregnant, was dragged out of her relative’s home, carried and shoved into a van that headed straight to a hospital on June 2. . . . Thirty hours later, on the morning June 4, she gave birth to a dead baby girl. (http://tinyurl.com/ca2bbyu)
Many people are aware that China has a one-child policy for urban residents and a two-child policy for rural residents whose first child is a girl. It was not until this story about Feng Jianmei broke, however, that many realized how China enforces these family planning policies. Feng is shown lying next to her dead baby after being kidnapped and forced to undergo a late-term abortion against her will.
by Bonnie Rochman, Time, June 19, 2012.
The Sher Fertility Institute selected three couples out of 45 who had submitted personal, emotionally wrenching videos in order to win a free IVF cycle. For one judge, choosing her favorites felt like ‘playing God’. (http://tinyurl.com/83grv6j)
The Sher Fertility Institute hosted a contest in which its judges selected three winners from among forty-five submitted videos. The winners would receive a free IVF cycle, and the Sher Fertility Institute received plenty of publicity. However, the ethics of the contest have been hotly debated, particularly in light of the fact that, once finalists were selected, the contest moved to Facebook, where “the chance to make a baby for free came down to a social-media popularity contest.”
by Adam Liptak, New York Times, June 28, 2012.
The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld President Obama’s health care overhaul law, saying its requirement that most Americans obtain insurance or pay a penalty was authorized by Congress’s power to levy taxes. The vote was 5 to 4, with Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. joining the court’s four more liberal members. (http://tinyurl.com/af6ytjt)
In what was deemed a landmark Supreme Court case, National Federation of Independent Businesses v. Sebelius, Secretary of Health and Human Services, et al., otherwise known as the Affordable Care Act case, upheld the provisions within the Act requiring individuals to purchase health insurance or risk being fined. In a 5-4 vote, with Chief Justice Roberts as the surprising swing vote, the Court justified the individual mandate by identifying it as a type of tax. The Court did not consider the individual mandate as falling under Congress’s authority to regulate interstate commerce, and the Court did not uphold the Act’s Medicaid expansion.
by Sharon Begley, Reuters, July 4, 2012.
For the second time in a month, scientists have announced that a simple blood test, rather than more invasive tests such as amniocentesis, can determine a fetus's genetic make-up, identifying mutations causing any of about 3,000 inherited disorders that arise from a glitch in a single gene, such as cystic fibrosis. (http://tinyurl.com/axsf5d6)
A new technique for prenatal genetic testing, currently in trial stages, would allow doctors to determine a baby’s genetic makeup without having to do a risky amniocentesis or chorionic villus sampling. This technique requires only a blood sample from the mother. From this single sample, the doctor and mother can obtain genetic information on thousands of inherited diseases at twelve-to-thirteen weeks, rather than fifteen-to-eighteen weeks with amniocentesis. This technique raises questions regarding accuracy of genetic information and ethics of terminating a pregnancy based on that information.
BBC, July 6, 2012.
An American scientist is to unveil details of work on the brain patterns of Prof Stephen Hawking which he says could help safeguard the physicist's ability to communicate. (http://tinyurl.com/ct79mgv)
Stephen Hawking was first diagnosed with ALS in 1963, and since then his ability to control his body has degraded while his mental capacities have remained intact. Hawking has been able to communicate through an infrared sensor in his glasses that detects small movements in his cheek, but his ability to communicate has also gradually diminished. Some ALS patients eventually enter a type of locked-in state in which they are no longer able to communicate at all. Now a team is developing a device, the iBrain, which can record brain wave activity through EEG technology. The iBrain may allow someone with no motor abilities to communicate, but it also raises questions about cybernetics and privacy.
by Helen Thompson, Nature, vol. 487, issue 7407, July 18, 2012.
Science alone cannot resolve the ethical conundrum presented by this debate. But it can shed light on the purely technical question: if performance-enhancing techniques were allowed, how far could the human body go? (http://tinyurl.com/czghfqp)
The summer Olympics are notorious for sparking debate and controversy over enhancement, particularly drug enhancement. However, new technologies pose questions of mechanical and physiological enhancement as well. Technologies such as ligament replacement therapy, Oscar Pistorius’ prosthetic blades, and prospective “gene doping” all raise questions as to how to maintain fairness in sports and whether regulations should be tightened or more technologies allowed.
by David Cyranoski, Nature, vol. 488, Issue 7409, July 27, 2012.
A court decision on July 23, 2012 could help to tame the largely unregulated field of adult stem-cell treatments. The US District Court in Washington DC affirmed the right of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to regulate therapies made from a patient’s own processed stem cells. The case hinged on whether the court agreed with the FDA that such stem cells are drugs. (http://tinyurl.com/aghg3a5)
Stem cell therapies have been largely unregulated in the U.S. because of their ambiguous classification as a type of drug, technique, or alternative medicine. Furthermore, the stem cell therapies in question involve taking a patient’s own bone marrow and using it in the same patient to treat joint pain. Now, after hearing a case brought by the FDA against Regenerative Sciences (Broomfield, CO), the U.S. District Court has ruled that stem cell treatments must follow the regulatory standards set by the FDA, as the stem cells are sufficiently adulterated to be considered a biological drug product.
by Lara Salahi, ABC News, July 31, 2012.
The Diphtheria, Tetanus, acellular Pertussis (DTaP) vaccine for children has not been as effective in protecting against whooping cough as the older version that was available nearly two decades ago, according to a study published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association. (http://tinyurl.com/abvo7ag)
Whooping cough has made a comeback lately, and doctors say part of the reason may be a safer, newer version of the pertussis vaccine. The newer vaccine, used since the 1990s, has fewer side-effects and is thought to be safer than the original pertussis vaccine. It does not, however, have the same longevity; children need to receive a booster shot at twelve years old. Most of the cases of whooping cough in this particular case are in children who received the vaccine but not the subsequent booster.
Fox News, August 10, 2012.
A sizable share of the U.S. organizations recruiting egg donors online don't adhere to ethical guidelines, including failing to warn of the risks of the procedure and offering extra payment for traits like good looks, according to a U.S. study. (http://tinyurl.com/aracacs)
A study in the journal Fertility and Sterility brought to light what many have suspected for years: there is a problematic lack of regulation in the egg-donor industry. While the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) does have guidelines, including a minimum donor age of 21 and a discouragement of monetary compensation for physical or mental features, it has no power to enforce these standards on non-member organizations. Most of the websites in the study did not follow ASRM’s guidelines. Many were IVF clinics or agencies that connect women to IVF clinics.
New York Times, August 16, 2012.
“A panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld Myriad’s right to patent “isolated” genes known as BRCA1 and BRCA2, which account for most inherited forms of breast and ovarian cancer.” (http://tinyurl.com/beky4de)
Myriad Genetics applied for patents on the genes BRCA1 and BRCA2, as well as its methods for comparing and analyzing DNA sequences. The Court granted the patent on the genes, which are known markers for risk of breast cancer, but denied the patent on the methods for analyzing DNA sequences. The case was brought by the ACLU, which argued that patenting genes violates First Amendment rights as well as patent laws because genes are a “product of nature.”
