The House of Commons science and technology committee says positive genetic tests used by insurance companies to assess potential customers should be halted for at least two years. Its' report last week urged the cessation of tests in order to allay public fears about the creation of a 'genetic underclass...
The UK Government has been told by the Wellcome Trust, the world's biggest biomedical charity, to pay for research facilities for British scientists or Britain will be relegated from the research 'Premier League'. The trust seems to be showing that it is tired of 'making up shortfalls' in state investment...
Researchers from the University of Texas at Austin have established that men find that women smell particularly pleasant during the fertile periods of their menstrual cycle. Seventeen women participated in the study which was designed to establish what sort of odour a woman gives off at different times of her...
The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) were told by an internal ad hoc committee last week that Canadian scientists should have access to public funds to enable them to carry out research on human stem cells, including their derivation from embryos and fetal tissue obtained from elective abortions. The...
A breakthrough has been made by scientists seeking ways to enable women treated for cancer to have children. Sections of ovarian tissue that had been frozen before a patient's chemotherapy treatment have been successfully implanted back into a 36-year old woman by a team of scientists in the UK...
The Court of Appeal has dismissed the claim made by prisoner Gavin Mellor that his human rights were breached by the refusal of access to artificial insemination services while he was in prison. Last year, Mellor requested that he be able to attend a clinic so that his wife could...
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Genes and insurance debate hots up
by Juliet Tizzard
The issue of what kind of access insurers should have to its customers' genetic test results has been knocking around for a few years now. But whilst the main protagonists have taken their time to mull over the issues, the UK House of Commons Science and Technology Committee decided to...