The European Commissioner for Science and Research has said that he will not directly increase European Union (EU) funding for human embryonic stem (ES) cell research, even though the money allocated for scientific research as a whole has greatly increased. The proposed Seventh EU Research Framework Programme 2007-2013 (FP7...
The New Zealand Law Commission has published a new report on parenthood, which was put before the country's parliament last week. The report, called 'New Issues in Legal Parenthood', recommends a number of changes to existing laws, which the Law Commission says are necessary to reflect changing family structures and...
Six patients taking part in a gene therapy trial for Alzheimer's disease are showing an improvement in their condition, a US team reports. Scientists at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) have shown that injecting genetically modified skin cells into the brain appears to slow the effects of the...
Three couples are to receive IVF treatment funded by a UK regional newspaper that, in January this year, offered its readers the chance to 'win' free fertility treatment. The Birmingham Post offered the IVF prizes as part of a week-long campaign to raise awareness of infertility, the types of treatment...
A lesbian couple are planning to use IVF to create a 'shared baby', the UK press has reported. Hayley Marlow and Vicky Hill want to have one of Ms Hill's eggs fertilised, using donor sperm, but to then implant any resulting embryo into Ms Marlow's womb. Ms Marlow would then...
Stem cells can turn cancerous if they are grown for too long in the laboratory, two new studies show. A report in New Scientist highlights two articles which show that adult stem cells can become immortal, a key feature of cancer cells. The scientists stress that current trials using injections...
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Egg sharing: a misnomer?
by Professor Brian Lieberman
In last week's BioNews, Eric Simons and Kamal Ahuja argued that egg sharing should be the only legal solution to donor egg shortages in the UK. This week, Brian Lieberman puts forward his arguments against this practice: Egg sharing is the euphemism used to describe a form of trade in...