President Clinton's ethics advisors on biotechnology issues were finalising details of their long-awaited recommendations on stem cell research, last week. As suggested by the tenor of their draft recommendations, they are expected to advise a change in the law to allow federal funding of such research. The National Bioethics Advisory...
Limited use of genetic testing at work to allow the detection of conditions that may put the employee or others in danger has been cautiously approved by government advisors in the UK. The report, published last week by the Human Genetics Advisory Commission, does not recommend a total ban on...
An Arizona-based fertility clinic planned to destroy all unclaimed frozen embryos as of 15 July - a move which marks the first time that a fertility clinic in the United States has announced such plans. The clinic ran an advertisement in The Arizona Republic on 27 June that began, 'If you...
Both alcohol and nicotine dependency may be the result of a common genetic factor, according to a study published in the July issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry (1999;56). Dr William E True of St Louis University, Missouri and colleagues examined 3,356 male-male twins in the Vietnam Era...
A report published last week by the French Academy of Sciences warns that the existing gap between France and its competitors in genome research will further widen unless research is prioritised. The report - entitled 'Development and applications of genomics, after the genome' - points out that despite France's lead in genome...
An informal survey conducted by The Independent newspaper in the UK found that at least six children born last year were conceived after their fathers' deaths. Fifty of the UK's 101 fertility clinics were interviewed. It appears that 15 of these clinics had helped women with posthumous conception. There had...
Fertility history was made in the UK when one woman's eggs helped two others and herself become pregnant under an egg sharing scheme. Egg sharing schemes are carried out at a handful of fertility clinics in the UK and involve a woman receiving free or discounted in vitro fertilisation (IVF...
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Comment
Squeamish about babies from beyond the grave
by Juliet Tizzard
Should modern technologies be used by women who seek to conceive a child after the death of their partners? One wonders why we are witnessing all this hand-wringing, particularly since nothing has actually happened in this area. The Independent thought the issue so important that it ran a leader, as...