Biomedical Regulations & Ethics
Fighting depression: Nasal-based ketamine spray clears key FDA hurdle
One of the largest hurdles to ketamine becoming a mainstream depression treatment may have just been cleared. On [February 12], ...
Are DIY designer babies a real possibility?
[Bryan] Bishop, a 29-year-old programmer and Bitcoin investor, has been leaving a trail of comments about human “enhancement” on the ...
Viewpoint: Gene drive technology could eliminate malaria. But we must get it right, first
People don’t give people malaria: The 460 species of mosquitoes in the genus Anopheles do, and researchers are taking aim at them ...
What the CRISPR baby controversy can teach us about ethics through the ages
[H]ow should we assess the ethics of new biomedical procedures when we know that society’s views may change? More specifically, ...
Stanford investigating whether faculty has ties to controversial Chinese CRISPR baby experiment
Officials at Stanford University have opened an investigation into what several high-profile faculty members knew about a Chinese effort to ...
Science and religion: Why ‘needless hostility’ could be hampering scientific discovery
I am no apologist for religion. As a psychologist, I believe that the scientific method provides the best tools with ...
Fears that China has used prisoners’ organs for transplants prompts call for retraction of more than 400 scientific papers
A world-first study has called for the mass retraction of more than 400 scientific papers on organ transplantation, amid fears ...
Viewpoint: Why we must be wary of grandiose claims about a low-cost, universal cancer cure
An Israeli company claims they will likely perfect a cure for all cancer in the next year. There are many ...
Why the quest to create ‘super babies’ is a ‘fool’s errand’
Gene-edited babies should probably always be prohibited, not because of fears of creating inequalities and advantaged “super babies,” but because ...
Controversial brain preservation company Nectome seeks second, more ethical, chance
Robert McIntyre would like to get a few things straight. That “waiting list” of people plunking down $10,000 to have ...
Questions arise over US scientist’s role in CRISPR baby controversy
An American scientist at Rice University was far more involved in the widely condemned “CRISPR babies” experiment than has previously ...
A breakthrough cure for cancer? Beware the hype
There is a good rule of thumb – whenever a headline asks a question, especially a provocative question, the answer ...
First clinical trials for controversial ‘3-parent’ fertility treatment begin
[A] 32-year-old Greek woman, who’d previously undergone two operations for endometriosis and four unsuccessful cycles of IVF, once again returned ...
‘CRISPR babies’ prompt review of international gene-editing guidelines: They ‘were not clear enough’
Less than two years after producing an exhaustive report on human genome editing, the U.S. National Academy of Medicine and the National ...
Push to use gene editing to fight invasive predators rejected in New Zealand
A lobby group is calling for an end to a ban on investigating whether genetic technologies could be used to kill predators ...
China’s latest ‘ethical mess’: Cloning diseased gene-edited monkeys
Chinese researchers have cloned five gene-edited monkeys with a host of genetic disease symptoms, according to two scientific papers published ...
Japan approves stem-cell therapy for spinal cord injuries—but does it even work?
Japan has approved a stem-cell treatment for spinal-cord injuries. The event marks the first such therapy for this kind of ...
Improving personalized medicine may demand more diversity in clinical trials
Hispanic Americans have higher levels of diabetes and less access to health care services, yet they live on average about ...
Viewpoint: We’re letting bureaucracy get in the way of diagnostic innovation
Should we be making it easier for companies to bring new tests to market, rather than having a process that ...
Viewpoint: Human germline editing offers ‘bright future’ if done carefully
We are at the point where our technology will soon surpass our humanity. It used to be that what we ...
DNA test spurs arrest of nurse accused of impregnating vegetative patient
A 36-year-old nurse has been arrested on suspicion of impregnating a woman in a vegetative state who unexpectedly gave birth ...
Why a proposed DNA data protection plan is a great idea that may be too late to help
Legal experts, biologists and policy analysists are calling for DNA data regulation, but the cat is already out of the ...
Why it was no surprise that controversial CRISPR babies happened in China
The headline-making births last November of the world’s first gene-edited babies (twin girls) was unsurprising in one way: The scientist ...
Chinese scientist behind CRISPR babies committed crimes, will be punished, China says
The scientist responsible for creating the world’s first genetically modified babies violated government bans and committed fraud, according to Chinese ...
Getting out of the gene-editing mess created by Chinese scientist He Jiankui
There have always been rogues willing to carve their own paths no matter what the cost to others. But how ...
International treaty could threaten genetics research on ebola, other infectious diseases
There is something that is weighing heavily on the minds of some infectious diseases scientists these days. ... It’s an ...
How much can we blame our genes for addictive behavior?
Of all the people who try alcohol or illegal drugs, only 10 to 20 percent get addicted. No single gene ...
‘Men are struggling’: Psychologists get new guidelines for ‘traditional masculinity’
[T]he American Psychological Association, the country’s largest professional organization of psychologists, did something for men that it’s done for many ...
