US president Bill Clinton and UK prime minister Tony Blair have issued a joint statement urging all human genome researchers to place their results in the public domain. 'Raw fundamental data on the human genome, including the human DNA sequence and its variations, should be made freely available to scientists...
Five pigs cloned using nuclear transfer technology - the 'Dolly technique' - were born on 5 March, announced UK firm PPL Therapeutics last week. Genetic tests have proved that the pigs, called Millie, Christa, Alexis, Carrel and Dotcom - are all genetically identical to an adult female pig. The scientists say they now...
Scientists battling to save endangered species are turning to surrogates from other species for help, according to a report in the Sunday Times yesterday. A team of researchers at the Audubon Institute, University of New Orleans has frozen 170 tiger embryos produced by in vitro fertilisation (IVF), which they plan...
The Swiss public have voted overwhelmingly against further restrictions on assisted reproduction, following a referendum on 12 March. Seventy-five per cent of the population rejected a proposal to ban in vitro fertilisation (IVF) and sperm donation, which would have left non-donor insemination as the only permitted technique. The call for...
The Bishop of Edinburgh, the Most Rev. Richard Holloway, has spoken out in favour of therapeutic cloning - the proposed use of cloned early embryos to grow new body tissues. He said he could see no ethical reason to oppose the creation of human organs and tissues, if the technology became...
A House of Lord's report says more must be done to restore public confidence in science, following the BSE debacle and recent concerns over GM (genetically-modified) food. The Science and Society report, published last week, also suggests that there should be more rigorous guidelines for science journalists. However, they rejected...
A UK government panel is expected to give therapeutic cloning research the go-ahead when it publishes its findings in May, according to a report in the Sunday Times newspaper. The panel, headed by the government's chief medical officer Liam Donaldson, was asked to investigate the scientific, ethical and legal issues...
The UK's Advisory Committee on Genetic Testing (ACGT) sent out guidelines on prenatal testing to health authorities across the country this week. The recommendations say that a range of genetic tests should be made available to more pregnant women. A spokesman for the Department of Health said that they wanted...
The Japanese government is planning to ban human reproductive cloning. A new bill drawn up by the science and technology agency warns that researchers attempting to clone a human being will face fines or imprisonment. The move follows a public outcry over the loopholes in the existing regulations, says a...
The German Chamber of Physicians has called for a change in the law that currently forbids preimplantation genetic diagnosis, the genetic testing of embryos. They argue that there has been an increase in 'medical tourism', with German couples seeking advice in neighbouring countries. The German health ministry has indicated that...
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