In a controversial documentary for the Discovery Channel aired last week, Dr Panayiotis Zavos, a notorious US fertility doctor, claimed to have successfully created and implanted cloned human embryos with the intention of producing live human clones. Scientists and medical ethicists have unanimously condemned him for his...
Having dark hair and tanning easily does not necessarily make you less likely to develop skin cancer, according to data presented last week at the annual meeting for the American Association for Cancer Research in Denver. Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania, US, found that people who...
A team of scientists has identified 'genetic brakes' that could potentially slow or halt diseases such as multiple sclerosis and cancer. Scientists from University of Edinburgh's Roslin Institute found that hundreds of genes interact with each other to control how cells behave in the body, including potentially...
Men's intellectual development can be impaired by gene mutations on the X chromosome, according to an international study by 70 researchers. The report, published in Nature Genetics, found that nine genes are linked to abnormal brain development in boys. Poor brain development causes learning disabilities in two...
The UK's Nuffield Council on Bioethics, an independent group of experts, is launching a new inquiry into the growing - and largely unregulated - provision of medical services through the internet and by consumer-targeted businesses. The multi-disciplinary group of experts will look at patients' experience of services including DNA...
A New York court has ruled in favour of Giselle Marrero, a woman who sought a court order allowing the extraction and preservation of her dead fiancee's sperm. Miss Marrero told the Bronx State Supreme Court that on the day before his death that Johnny Quintana, 31...
The Obama administration has announced its proposals to fund embryonic stem (ES) cell research but it has indicated that federal funding will be restricted to research on cell lines derived from 'surplus' embryos donated following IVF procedures. Mr Obama reversed former President Bush's restriction on federal funding...
A report published in the Journal of Translational Medicine shows that stem cells taken from patients' adipose (fat) tissue may be able help relieve the symptoms of multiple sclerosis (MS). In the preliminary study by researchers from Medistem Inc. and the Division of Neurosurgery, University of California...
For the first time adult skin cells have been reprogrammed into an embryonic-like state using proteins instead of genes. This feat represents a major step towards overcoming safety concerns associated with many other methods of cell reprogramming. This research was led by members of the Scripps Research...
British couples at risk from passing on a serious genetic disorder to their children are being refused National Health Service (NHS) funding for treatment which could allow them to have a healthy child, medical experts have warned this week. The procedure, known as pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD...
This week Steve Jones, Professor of Genetics at University College London, called for an overhaul of the approach to genetic research which, since the completion of the Human Genome Project in 2003, has led to the investment of hundreds of millions of pounds of charity and taxpayers...
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NHS bowel cancer screening programme promotion: money down the toilet
by David McDermott
Upon collecting a prescription from my local pharmacy, I was surprised to be handed a key ring with a small plastic toilet attached (1). The NHS bowel cancer screening programme promotion is, apparently, all about toilets! It is time to ask the members of the NHS Committee, who gave their...