Survey suggests that Americans are willing to pay a premium for genetic tests
A recent study suggests American consumers would be prepared to pay on average up to $600 for a predictive genetic test where no direct treatment is available....
Rosie Beauchamp was previously a Volunteer Writer at BioNews, and a Volunteer at the charity that publishes it, the Progress Educational Trust (PET). She is also a Policy Adviser at John Murray Consulting Partners where she works on issues surrounding health policy, with a focus on National Health Service reforms and specialised healthcare. She has an MSc in Biomedicine, Bioscience and Society from the London School of Economics and Political Science, where her research focused on the effects of direct-to-consumer genetic testing on concepts of ethnicity. Previously, she worked at the Young Foundation on its UpRising leadership programme. She graduated in Religious Studies from the University of Edinburgh, where she wrote a dissertation on the representation of religious voices in the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority's Review of Hybrids and Chimeras.
A recent study suggests American consumers would be prepared to pay on average up to $600 for a predictive genetic test where no direct treatment is available....
The London Women's Clinic (LWC) has reportedly received an application for fertility treatment by two gay men wanting to raise a child who wish to use one of the couple's sister as a surrogate....
It is almost a cliché to say that genetics has moved beyond the boundaries of science, penetrating social and cultural understandings of ourselves as individuals and social beings. Dr Alexandra Plows' book Debating Human Genetics is in this sense not a groundbreaking contribution. The book is the product of a three-year academic project. In it, Dr Plows approaches the social phenomena of the 'gene' by examining the ways different people or 'publics' are engaging with human genetics...
Yves Bolduc, the Minister for Health in Quebec, Canada, has announced plans to introduce free fertility treatment through the extension of Medicare coverage. This move will fulfil Premier Jean Charest's 2008 campaign promise...
A woman having a child at 40 has a 50 per cent greater chance of having a child diagnosed with autism than a woman of 25-29, a study has found...
On 29 December last year, British twins were delivered by Caesarean section at Stafford District Hospital, UK, to Monique and Neil Ward. The Wards had been attempting to conceive for 25 years and spent £100,000 on fertility treatment. The Wards were married in 1986 and after six months of trying to conceive tests revealed that Neil Ward had a low sperm count due to a reversed vasectomy. The couple then proceeded with an NHS-funded method of delivering sperm straight into ...
This week it was announced that five months after dissolving the bioethics advisory council established by George W Bush, US President Barack Obama has put into place a new bioethics council. While it was thought that the previous council was focused mainly on issues regarding human embryo research and the connected moral concerns, the new committee will have a far broader scope, being involved in shaping and recommending policy implementation, regulation and legislative action...
On Wednesday 18th November 2009 a Progress Educational Trust (PET) conference - 'Does Genetics Matter? Help Hype and the New Horizon of Epigenetics' - was held at Clifford Chance in Canary Wharf. The initial session of the day was called 'Families with Monogenetic Disease' and was chaired by Dr Christine Patch, Chair of the British Society for Human Genetics and Consultant Genetic Counsellor and Manager at Guy's Hospital....
Businessman Eric Holzle has launched ScientificMatch.com, one of the first dating sites to offer genetic testing to help you meet your match. Holzle claims that by seeking genetic compatibility you are likely to have a better sex life, increased fidelity - and that the benefits may even extend to your children....
The discovery that variations in a gene called FMR1 could indicate the length of a woman's fertility by indicating the rate at which her egg supply will diminish may enable some women to find out how long they are likely to remain fertile. It is currently difficult to predict which women will experience premature ageing of their ovaries, but Norbert Gleicher at the Center of Human Reproduction in New York believes he will be able to study variations in a gene known as FMR1 - mutations in whic...
BioNews, published by the Progress Educational Trust (PET), provides news and comment on genetics, assisted conception, embryo/stem cell research and related areas.