Home » Archives for Moral status of the human embryo

Stem cells: The cell division

Posted by Biotechnology 15 Dec 2011

Source: Nature. It was overcast and unseasonably sultry in Luxembourg, home to the European Court of Justice, on the morning of 18 October 2011. But German neuroscientist Oliver Brüstle wasn’t sweating when the 13 judges entered the court room in their flowing crimson robes. Not, that is, until they delivered their verdict, which spelt the end of his lengthy fight to defend his patent on human embryonic stem (ES) cells from attack by Greenpeace.

Is a fertilized egg a Californian? Personhood movement brings battle to California

Posted by Biotechnology 23 Nov 2011

Source: Knoepfler Lab Stem Cell Blog. Remember those folks who were pushing an amendment in Mississippi that would have defined the one cell fertilized egg as a full blown person with all the same rights as a living, breathing, thinking Mississippian? Now the new battlefront for their movement is California. They want to get an initiative on the ballot to make it a law that a fertilized egg is a Californian.

First test of human embryonic stem cell therapy in people discontinued

Posted by News, Top Stories 15 Nov 2011

Source: The Washington Post. The company conducting the first government-approved tests in people of a therapy developed using human embryonic stem cells abruptly announced Monday that it was halting the study, stunning advocates of the highly contentious field. Geron Corp. of Menlo Park, Calif., said the move, which stops one of the most controversial and closely watched medical experiments in the [...]

A Mississippi Victory as the Battle Over Stem Cell Research Rages on

Posted by Biotechnology 14 Nov 2011

Source: The Burrill Report. Mississippi voters on November 8 rejected initiative 26, an amendment to the state’s constitution that would have declared life begins at fertilization. Though much of the push for the amendment came from opponents of abortion, the legislation would also have ensnared human embryonic stem cell research. We spoke to Bernie Siegel, executive director of the Genetics Policy Institute, [...]

Vatican push for adult stem cells can’t neglect good science

Posted by Opinion 13 Nov 2011

Source: msnbc.com. I had a front-row seat this week for one of the pressing ethical discussions of our time: Can religion and science ever get along? Specifically, can stem cell research proceed with the blessing of religion? In an unprecedented and truly startling move, the Catholic Church has answered yes. The Vatican this week reiterated that it has entered into an unusual partnership [...]

Congressional GOP Pushes Zygote Personhood Bills

Posted by Reproductive health 11 Nov 2011

Source: Mother Jones. On Tuesday, voters in Mississippi headed to the polls to vote on an amendment to the state Constitution that would designate inseminated human eggs as legal persons from the “moment of fertilization.” (Updated 9:30PT: The measure failed.) Its backers hoped to set up a challenge to Roe v. Wade and push toward outlawing many forms of birth control.

Will Mississippi Ban IVF?

Posted by Reproductive health 27 Oct 2011

Source: The Daily Beast. In September, Mississippi’s Supreme Court ruled that a ballot initiative to amend the state’s constitution to define embryos as persons could go forward in November. Since then, Dr. Randall Hines, one of four physicians in the state who perform in vitro fertilization, has been fielding panicked calls from women with fertility problems. “We have patients calling us who are extremely anxious,” he says. [...]

Ban on Embryonic Stem Cell Patents Immoral

Posted by Opinion 22 Oct 2011

Source: University of Oxford. This ruling is deeply immoral. In effect, it shuts down embryonic stem cell research by the back door. This ruling is only supported by a narrow, controversial position on the moral status of the human embryo. It imposes a conservative morality on all Europeans to the detriment of their future health. This research has enormous potential to treat the effects of disease, injury and ageing.

Roman Catholic bishops applaud ban on embryonic stem cell patents

Posted by Biotechnology 22 Oct 2011

Source: digitaljournal.com. Roman Catholic bishops in Europe have said they welcome the decision of the European Court of Justice to ban the patenting of scientific techniques that use stem cells derived from human embryo. the Roman Catholic bishops of the Commission of Bishops’ Conferences of the European Community, said, “This judgement…provides a broad, scientific sound definition of a human embryo.”

Euro judges outlaw life-saving embryo stem cell research as immoral

Posted by News, Top Stories 19 Oct 2011

Source: Mail Online. Scientists in Britain face being barred from developing life-saving treatments after a court ruled it is ‘immoral’ to use embryos to produce stem cells. The European Court of Justice has decreed that patenting any treatment using the cells is ‘commercial exploitation’ and ‘contrary to morality’. Scientists warned the ‘devastating decision’ will stop pioneering treatments for degenerative diseases [...]

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