A new study suggests that some bone marrow cells can find their way to the brain and develop into working brain cells. Previously, it was believed that the stem cells in bone marrow only produced replacement blood and bone tissue. The findings, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy...
The UK Department of Health (DH) is to announce shortly whether sperm donors are to lose their right to anonymity. Existing law in the UK does not allow children conceived using donor sperm to discover the identity of the donor, but only to find out small amounts of non-identifying information...
An inquiry has begun in the Family Division of the UK High Court to determine the legal parentage of mixed-race twins born to a white couple following a mistake during IVF procedures at the Assisted Conception Unit at Leeds General Infirmary last July. Dame Elizabeth Butler-Sloss, head of the Family...
New research has suggested that children born following in vitro fertilisation (IVF) may be more likely to develop retinoblastoma, a rare form of childhood eye cancer. The research follows calls from scientists for long-term health monitoring of IVF children after another study linked IVF to Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome (BWS) last week...
Clonaid, the US company that claims that it has helped human clones to be born, has been given one week to prove it by a Florida court. Judge John Frusciante told Thomas Kaenzig, vice-president of Clonaid, to disclose the whereabouts of 'Eve', the first alleged clone, so that the court...
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Comment
Principle and pragmatism in donor conception
by Juliet Tizzard
As the Department of Health prepares to make an announcement about the future of egg and sperm donation in the United Kingdom, speculation as to what recommendations it will make to ministers is rife. Newspapers over the weekend reported that we're about to see anonymous donation outlawed. Then, on Monday...