A new report by Friends of the Earth (FoE) claims that advances in genetic technology could trigger a host of lawsuits against companies that make industrial chemicals. The document, entitled 'Crisis in Chemicals', predicts that by 2010, 'research into the human genome will have radically improved our understanding of what...
Labour MP Debra Shipley has called for a change in the UK regulations governing posthumous conception, which rule that a father's name cannot be put on the birth certificate of a child conceived after his death. Speaking during the introduction of her Human Fertilisation and Embryology (Amendment) Bill in the...
In an unusual display of solidarity, the heads of the private and public projects aiming to decipher the entire human genome held an impromptu joint press briefing last week. Craig Venter, president of Celera Genomics and Dr Francis Collins, head of the Human Genome Project, shook hands and complimented each...
US scientists based at the University of California School of Medicine, Los Angeles (UCLA), have developed a new, non-invasive technique for delivering genes to the brain. It opens the way for gene therapies for Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease, as well as genetic conditions such as Gaucher's and Tay Sach's disease...
A team of US researchers, based at the University of California, San Francisco, has found evidence of faulty DNA repair in the testes of some infertile men. Their findings, published in the June issue of Human Reproduction, could throw light on previously unexplained cases of male infertility, but may also...
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The dangers of over-hyping and underplaying
by Juliet Tizzard
If you'd asked a non-scientist a year ago what they thought about the Human Genome Project you would most probably have got a pretty blank expression in reply. Now, your average newspaper reader could probably tell you what the Human Genome Project is, who the major players are and when...