A row between the private and public bodies racing to sequence the human genome erupted last week. It followed the collapse of recent secret talks in which the rivals were discussing a possible collaboration. But any hopes that the Human Genome Project scientists and biotech company Celera Genomicsmight work...
A woman has given birth to a healthy baby who grew outside her womb, attached instead to her bowel. Doctors at the Queen's Medical Centre, Nottingham UK were amazed when they delivered the four and a half pound baby girl by Caesarean last week. The mother has been told her...
A woman who lost her recent High Court battle for damages to pay for a surrogate birth is to appeal against the decision, according to a report in the Independent newspaper last week. Patricia Briody sought more than £90,000 to pay for a surrogate birth as part of a total...
A UK government panel is expected to give therapeutic cloning research the go-ahead when it publishes its findings in May, according to a report in the Sunday Times newspaper. The panel, headed by the government's chief medical officer Liam Donaldson, was asked to investigate the scientific, ethical and legal issues...
The UK's Advisory Committee on Genetic Testing (ACGT) sent out guidelines on prenatal testing to health authorities across the country this week. The recommendations say that a range of genetic tests should be made available to more pregnant women. A spokesman for the Department of Health said that they wanted...
The Japanese government is planning to ban human reproductive cloning. A new bill drawn up by the science and technology agency warns that researchers attempting to clone a human being will face fines or imprisonment. The move follows a public outcry over the loopholes in the existing regulations, says a...
The German Chamber of Physicians has called for a change in the law that currently forbids preimplantation genetic diagnosis, the genetic testing of embryos. They argue that there has been an increase in 'medical tourism', with German couples seeking advice in neighbouring countries. The German health ministry has indicated that...
An American man who was forcibly sterilised in 1944 is suing the local authority that carried out the operation, reports the Sunday Times. Fred Aslin, 73, has brought an action against the state of Michigan, which placed him in a mental institution as a child and sterilised him at the...
Stay up-to-date on all the latest developments in the fields of human fertility and genomics.
And be the first to hear about upcoming events and other announcements.
Comment
National genetic screening programmes are needed
by Dr John Gillott
Press coverage of a report recently published by the Advisory Committee on Genetic Testing on the subject of Prenatal Genetic Testing suggests that a radically new service is being proposed, involving the 'mass genetic testing of pregnant women' with the attendant risk of a slippery slope towards the creation of...