Bioethics News This Week

The Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity reportsthese news stories for the week:

Studies cast doubt on cancer drug as Alzheimer’streatment
Four independent research groups report that they failed to fullyreplicate the striking results published in a journal last year supporting thehypothesis that Bexarotene, a cancer drug, has potential to treat Alzheimer’s disease.  (Scientific American)

California puts tentative price on health policiesunder new law
California announced Thursday that 13 insurers hadbeen chosen to sell policies through the insurance marketplace— orexchange. (New York Times)

Mom technically dead, gives birth. 
Three-month-oldElayna Nigrelli has redefined what it means to be a miracle baby. She was bornwhile her mother was technically dead. The mom was later revived, and now bothmother and child are fine. (CNN)

A medical first: Doctors save Ohio boy by‘laser-printing’ an airway tube so he can breathe
Soundslike something out of speculative fiction, huh? Doctors have apparently usedplastic particles and a 3-D laser printer to create an airway splint to savethe life of a baby boy who used to stop breathing nearly every day. It’s thelatest advance from the booming field of regenerative medicine, making bodyparts in the lab. (AP)

Stem-cell cloner acknowledges errors ingroundbreaking paper
A blockbuster paper that reported the creation ofhuman stem cell lines via cloning has come under fire. An anonymous onlinecommenter found four problems in the paper, which was published online 15 Mayin the journal Cell. (Nature)



Stem-cell treatment restores sightto blind man
 An experimental stem-cell treatment has restored the sight ofa man blinded by the degeneration of his retinal cells. The man, who is takingpart in a trial examining the safety of using human embryonic stem cells(hESCs) to reverse two common causes of blindness, can now see well enough tobe allowed to drive. (New Scientist)

Vermont becomes third US state to legalize assistedsuicide
The Democratic Governor of Vermont signed into law a bill thatlawmakers adopted last week. Vermont follows Oregon and Washington inlegalizing assisted suicide. (AFP)

South America contraception up to 79%, middleAfrica 19%
The poorest countries in the world lag behinddeveloping countries in meeting the demand for modern contraception, U.S. researcherssay. (UPI)