Study measures genetic contribution to Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is 'highly heritable', and genetic factors may also influence the timing of the condition, say US researchers. The team, based at the University of Southern California, studied 392 pairs of twins in which one or both had AD. Their results, published in the Archives of General Psychiatry...
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Should women who do not seek fertility treatment provide egg cells for stem cell research?
by Dr Jan Deckers
The UK's Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) is reported to be considering allowing women to donate eggs specifically for cloning research. Three issues must be considered to address this question: firstly, if creating life to kill it is justifiable; secondly, if the expected benefits outweigh the costs; and thirdly...
Reproductive rights - and wrongs?
by Dr John Gillott
Baroness Kennedy, launching the Human Genetics Commission (HGC)'s new report, Making Babies: reproductive decisions and genetic technologies, said: 'Science, harnessed by society to prevent real suffering, is a social good. However, a culture which does not acknowledge that all humanity has a value, and that each one of us...
Preventing cross-border fertility treatment raises legal as well as practical concerns
by Diane Blood
A recent report from the Human Genetics Commission (HGC) - the UK government's advisory body on genetics - 'Making Babies: Reproductive decisions and genetic technologies' is the latest in a string of reports designed to help the UK form new legislation on assisted reproduction. I was deeply concerned to read of this...