Bioethics in the News
Thanks to the Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity for flagging these stories.
Lots of People on Antidepressants (Scientific American) The Mayo Clinic says about 13% of Americans, more than 1 in 10, take an antidepressant. Of women between the ages of 50 and 64, nearly 25% take an antidepressant. (Read More)
No Bucket Challenge for Ebola
(ABC News) While aid organizations need funds to fight the worst-ever Ebola outbreak in West Africa, officials say a lack of interest has made it difficult to highlight the need for more money and medical supplies. (Read More) For a dramatic video of one person's ending, watch this short NPR video.
A British Surrogate Mother Rejects Her Disabled Twin
(The Telegraph) A British surrogate mother of twins, one of whom was born disabled, has said the intended mother rejected the unhealthy child, referring to her as a “dribbling cabbage.” (Read More)
Will Stem Cells Replace Heart Operations?
(Daily Mail) Patients with chronic heart failure are to receive pioneering stem cell treatment in a new trial which could herald a cure for the biggest killer "in the industrial world." (Read More)
Scientists Have Coached Lab Cells to Make a Working Human Organ
(The Guardian) Reprogrammed cells created in a laboratory have been used to build a complete and functional organ in a living animal for the first time. British scientists produced a working thymus. (Read More)
Crime and IVF
(Reuters) A Thai doctor who performed in vitro fertilisation (IVF) for women involved in a surrogate baby business dubbed the “baby factory” has agreed to turn himself in, police said on Monday.
No More Reading Glasses in the Future?
(The Telegraph) Reading glasses could be banished forever after scientists developed a technique to reverse problems in aging eyes. (Read More)
Do We Need a Different Approach to Cancer?
(The Telegraph) Most cancers cannot be cured and scientists should give up trying and, instead, look for ways to manage the disease, the director of the Centre for Evolution and Cancer at The Institute of Cancer Research, has claimed. - (Read More)
Lack of Toilets Puts Women's Health and Safety at Risk
(The Guardian) In the evening gloom of their dirt courtyard, Raj Beti and her six daughters are growing desperate. They last answered nature’s call 13 hours ago, but it’s not yet dark enough to venture into the fields. For - (Read More)
Japanese Man Overdoes It with Surrogacy
(ABC.net) Japanese national Mitsutoki Shigeta used his sperm to have the children with eleven surrogate mothers. He said his motives were pure and all he wanted was a large family. (Read More)