State Representative Andy Thompson of 95th District in Ohio has just introduced H.B. 308, a ban on the practice of human cloning and on the laboratory creation of animal-human hybrids. This will actually be the third recent attempt to pass such legislation, with two previous tries held up in various... View Article
Organ transplantation has always been laced with ethical issues. The current demand far exceeds supply, and this leads to issues of justice, and to questions about who should receive available organs. Many potential donors do not have a living will or a signed donor card, leaving the decision of... View Article
By Center for Bioethics Fellow Dr. Heather Kuruvilla. A recent update reminds us that applications of adult stem cells to treat human diseases continue to progress. Cellerix is a biotechnology company that has adult stem cells in various stages of human testing. This means we may see new therapies on... View Article
In a dramatic ruling, a federal district court judge has blocked the Obama administration’s new guidelines on embryonic stem cell research. Judge Royce C. Lamberth issued a temporary injunction on August 23rd to prevent federal funding of embryo-destructive research, this in spite of an executive order by the president to... View Article
It’s ironic that the United Kingdom, one of the countries on the forefront of new biomedical research, (including embryo-destructive stem cell research), has no organized system for utilizing one of the best sources of stems cells: umbilical cord blood. Miriam Gonzalez Durantez, the wife of Britain’s Liberal Democrat leader Nick... View Article
Sometimes the truth has a way of getting out. On March 29th, Michael J. Fox and Dr. Oz were guests on the Oprah show. The topic, of course, was stem cell research. The medical expert used a real preserved brain to show the area of the midbrain affected by Parkinson’s... View Article
On March 9th, President Obama followed through on a campaign promise and issued an executive order. His signature overturned the ban, established in August, 2001, on government funding of embryo-destructive research. His speech at the signing ceremony was remarkable, not for his action (which was expected), but for what he... View Article
In a recent post, entitled “Good News for Everyone,” we rejoiced over the news that two independent teams of researchers had converted ordinary human skin cells into embryonic stem cells. They started out with human fibroblasts, then inserted four genes that caused the cells to become pluripotent, that is, to... View Article
Recently, with Christmas still over a month away, two independent teams of scientists gave the world an early holiday present. And this is a gift that may keep on giving for years to come. I’m talking, of course, about the announcment on November 20th that researchers had converted ordinary human... View Article
In a surprising development for the Garden State, a recent poll shows that nearly half of New Jersey citizens want to leave. Economic factors such as high property taxes, high health-insurance premiums, and expensive housing are making emigration more and more appealing, especially to the middle-class. The solution? Governor John... View Article