The UK Government has launched a consultation on the future of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) and Human Tissue Authority (HTA) amid proposals to transfer the regulators' functions elsewhere....
Researchers in the USA have claimed to have created a male contraceptive gel applied directly to the skin that can effectively reduce a man's sperm count with few side effects...
People who undergo genetic testing to establish their future risk of developing a genetic condition, such as Alzheimer's or breast cancer, will continue to have the right to take out health insurance without disclosing the test results to their insurer....
A gene that codes for nicotine antibodies has been successful in immunising mice against the drug's effects. But although the treatment appears to work in mice, any 'smoking vaccine' is still a long way off...
A study estimates that five million people worldwide have been born thanks to assisted reproductive technologies...
The University of Massachusetts (UMass) Stem Cell Bank, opened in response to restrictions on the funding of human embryonic stem cell (hESC) research in the USA, will close after just four years in existence when it runs out of public funding later this year....
For the first time, researchers in the USA have calculated cumulative success rates of infertility treatments that use IVF or assisted reproductive technologies (ART), and have showed that overall success rates come close to that of natural conception....
A test which screens for levels of gene expression may help reduce the number of patients with benign thyroid cancer who are put forward for unnecessary surgery...
This book is explicitly a call to arms and sets out to 'explore how geeks can turn our irrepressible energy and analytical rigour into a movement with real clout'...
Back in my bar-tending days, we had as regular customers a small group of men who would spend the evening huddled around a table talking at volume about current affairs. We used to eavesdrop on their conversations: it was hard not to. For the most part, what they tended to say was robustly weird, with essays into the profoundly bizarre. Reading John Glad's 'Future Human Evolution', I couldn't help but think of them...
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Comment
Consultation on the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority and the Human Tissue Authority
by Earl Howe
Standards should never come into question, but it's clear to this Government that NHS administrative costs can be streamlined. That is why I set out proposals to change responsibility for regulating fertility treatment and human tissue last week...
The IVF postcode lottery must stop
by Louisa Ghevaert
The inconsistent and inadequate provision of IVF treatment on the NHS is an unacceptable way to treat the one in seven UK couples (3.5 million people) currently affected by infertility...