The UK's Genetics and Insurance Committee (GAIC) has recommended that insurance companies should be allowed to use the results of tests for Huntington's disease when underwriting life insurance policies for individuals with a family history of the illness. The decision follows a recent application from the Association of British Insurers...
A new study published in the latest issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences examines how cells in the early human embryo grow and develop into a range of different body tissues. The researchers say their work demonstrates the potential for using embryo stem cells to grow...
A US religious cult announced last week that it has both the expertise and the money necessary to pursue its plan to clone a human being. The cult leader, a former French sports journalist known as Rael, told a press conference that an American couple are providing the funds required...
A UK paediatrician has criticised a Department of Health committee for its refusal to launch a £1.5m national cystic fibrosis (CF) screening programme. Dr Jim Littlewood, of St James University Hospital, Leeds, said that a £2 test to pinpoint the illness in newborns 'would cost nothing to implement and would...
IVF doctors at Derriford Hospital, Plymouth have begun a clinical trial investigating the effects of reflexology on women's fertility. They will compare the effectiveness of the popular alternative therapy with that of the fertility drug clomiphene, reported the Independent on Sunday newspaper. Dr Jonathon Lord, clinical lecturer in reproductive medicine...
Cambridge chemist Professor David King will be the UK government's new Chief Scientific Advisor, replacing Robert May.Professor King, head of chemistry at the University of Cambridge since 1993, intends to keep up his scientific research. Robert May, who will become president of the Royal Society later this year, wished...
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New technology, age-old discrimination
by Dr John Gillott
The decision by the Genetics and Insurance Committee (GAIC) last week to approve the use of genetic test results for Huntington's disease in assessing life insurance applications re-ignited a public debate about the dark side of advances in genetic science. According to the Daily Mail, Britain now leads the world...