Obituary: Dr Stephen Lewis Minger
Dr Stephen Minger – a pioneering stem cell biologist, who was awarded one of the first UK licences to generate human embryonic stem cell lines – died on 24 July 2024 at the age of 68...
James Lawford Davies
James Lawford Davies is an Adviser to the Progress Educational Trust (PET).
BioNews Articles by James Lawford Davies
Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
Forgeries of happiness: dishonesty and deceit in IVF
Happily fraud, dishonesty and forgery are seldom features of IVF treatment. But on rare occasions (and for widely differing reasons), some patients are not wholly transparent or honest in their engagement with clinics...
Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
An embarrassment of riches
It is evident that the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has succeeded in reducing its costs and operating with greater financial efficiency. This is in part reflected in the remarkable £3.4 million of surplus funds held by the HFEA which was discussed at the recent Authority meeting in January and subsequently reported in the media...
Image by Bill Sanderson via the Wellcome Collection, © Wellcome Trust Ltd 1990. Depicts Laocoön and his family (from Greek and Roman mythology) entwined in coils of DNA.
HFEA must address its 'misconceived interventions'
On the morning of 15 January 2007, I attended a meeting about hybrid embryo research in the UK Parliament. Halfway through, I received a message from a journalist that fertility regulator the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) had announced there would be a press conference that lunchtime about a London IVF clinic, the Assisted Reproduction and Gynaecology Centre (ARGC). As I left the meeting, I was called and asked to go to the ARGC urgently...
Image by Peter Artymiuk via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts the shadow of a DNA double helix, on a background that shows the fluorescent banding of the output from a DNA sequencing machine.
Regulating IVF and embryo research: Balancing clarity with flexibility
I will miss the UK's Human Fertilisation and Embryology (HFE) 1990 Act when it is gone. I am no great supporter of our regulatory model and the 1990 Act is flawed and idiosyncratic. However, if you are going to regulate IVF and embryo research, ours is a reasonably solid regulatory...
Image by Bill Sanderson via the Wellcome Collection, © Wellcome Trust Ltd 1990. Depicts Laocoön and his family (from Greek and Roman mythology) entwined in coils of DNA.
The effects - or not - of the EU Tissue Directive
After four years of speculation, debate and revision, the EU Tissues and Cells Directive has finally (if quietly) come into force. Sort of. The Directive, binding on all EU Member States, is part of a programme of legislation intended to introduce quality assurance for European consumers. As the title of...
Image by Peter Artymiuk via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts the shadow of a DNA double helix, on a background that shows the fluorescent banding of the output from a DNA sequencing machine.
Made in the UK
The Human Genetics Commission (HGC)'s recent report 'Making Babies: Reproductive decisions and genetic technologies' is the welcome result of two years' consultation and debate. For the most part, the report offers clear and constructive conclusions and recommendations for the future of assisted reproduction and preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD), amongst...
