A new survey is to examine scientists' views on communicating their research to policy makers and the general public. The Wellcome Trust has commissioned MORI (Market and Opinion Research International) to interview a total of 1600 researchers. At a time of mounting pressure on scientists to play a role in...
Public hostility to human reproductive cloning may be based on an 'illogical and transient fear of a new technology', according to a British Medical Association (BMA) discussion paper presented at this week's World Medical Association meeting in Tel Aviv. If the cloning method of cell nucleus replacement were eventually to...
Preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) to determine the sex of an IVF embryo is ethically acceptable when used to prevent the transmission of a genetic disorder, according to a statement by the Ethics Committee of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM). The committee's statement makes clear that sex selection using...
Media speculation on the prospect of fertility clinics in the UK importing foreign sperm was proved correct when the Glasgow Royal Infirmary was granted permission last Wednesday to import sperm from Denmark. After 18 months of campaigning, the clinic managed to convince the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) that...
Celltech Chiroscience, the recently merged biotechnology group, is to sell the loss-making Rapigene division which conducts rapid genetic analysis. Part of the gene-to-drug strategy of John Padfield, the former chief executive of Chiroscience, it was hoped that Rapigene would build up revenue from its Masscode system - a screening method for...
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Comment
A breath of fresh air from the BMA
by Juliet Tizzard
This week's BioNews reports on news that the British Medical Association (BMA) has prepared a discussion paper for the forthcoming World Medical Association meeting which questions current objections to human cloning. The paper suggests that creating clones of existing people may not be as horrific as we might think. It...