Biomedical Regulations & Ethics
15 things to know about fecal transplants – here’s the straight poop
Fecal transplants carry a certain ick factor for many people. But there is a legitimate medical use for them -- ...
Top 10 biotech innovations of all time, including CRISPR, IVF babies
Human Genome Project As biology’s first “big science” collaboration, the international Human Genome Project mapped and sequenced the entire human ...
How a ‘dubious’ 50-year-old study fuels marijuana use by pregnant women—against the advice of health experts
Social media users extol — and health experts decry — a study from Jamaica suggesting cannabis use poses no harm ...
Max Planck Society backs CRISPR crops, rejects human germline editing
As an organization of basic research, the Max Planck Society bears a special responsibility for the use of new scientific ...
Eugenics offers a warning about the perils of scientists chasing a brighter future at the ‘cost of innocent individual lives’
We tend to associate eugenics with Nazi Germany and the Holocaust, but it was in fact developed in London. Its ...
‘Really tough decision’: What should doctors do when genetic testing reveals that dad isn’t the child’s biological father?
The child was critically ill. The treating team at Children's National Hospital in Washington, DC, was stumped and worried that ...
Blaming overdiagnosis of cancer on ‘irrational exuberance’: Are we too concerned about early detection?
Even though overall mortality from cancer is falling, the overall incidence is rising. The declines in lung, stomach, cervical, and ...
Animals enhanced with human brain cells—and robust levels of consciousness—create new ethical dilemmas
Neuroscientist Isaac Chen from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, along with his colleagues, has written ...
Man with at least 17 children sues fertility clinic for being ‘incredibly irresponsible’ with his sperm
An Oregon doctor filed a $5.25 million lawsuit [October 2] against a fertility clinic at the Oregon Health & Science ...
What the next 20 years have in store for male birth control, including a gel rubbed into the shoulders
[M]ale contraception has been limited to the same two options for the last 100 years: condoms and a vasectomy. Neither ...
Anti-vaccine movement, spurred by internet-based rumors and misinformation
As millions of families face back-to-school medical requirements and forms this month, the contentiousness surrounding vaccines is heating up again, ...
This winter’s flu vaccine may not be ‘optimally protective’. We could be in for a rough season.
Twice a year influenza experts meet at the World Health Organization to pore over surveillance data provided by countries around ...
Trump administration wants to collect DNA from detained immigrants
The Trump administration plans to vastly expand a program to collect DNA information from migrants in detention and enter it ...
Viewpoint: The key to ethical human germline editing is ‘slow science’
The hubris of some scientists knows no bounds. Less than a year after He Jiankui, a Chinese biophysicist, drew scorn ...
Japan’s quest to be world leader in regenerative medicine sparks surge in questionable stem cell treatments
In the United States, authorities have grappled with a surge of clinics selling therapies that are unsupported by evidence and, ...
AI and digital health devices: FDA’s new guidelines seek to ‘strike a delicate balance’ between safety and innovation
The Food and Drug Administration has issued new guidelines on how it will regulate mobile health software and products that ...
What sperm banks could learn from Fox’s ‘Almost Family’ and ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ sequel ‘The Testaments’
It’s time for tighter regulation of assisted reproductive technologies ...
Anonymous no more: AncestryDNA test reveals identity of woman’s stem cell donor
In 2017, Holly Becker took an AncestryDNA test, and the results, she would only later learn, exactly matched those of ...
Gene-editing technology creates ‘difficult ethical questions and moral dilemmas’
Emerging gene-editing technology is raising questions around the world about the ethics of altering the structure of life: DNA. From Europe ...
Brain scans, like DNA, can say a lot about who you are. That creates ethical, privacy concerns.
Many people are aware—and properly protective—of the vast stores of information contained in their DNA. When DNA samples were collected ...
Alternative treatments for opioid addiction? Florida doctors forced to endorse chiropractic, acupuncture, massage
Billed as an effort to combat the opioid crisis, a new Florida law requires physicians and other healthcare practitioners to endorse ...
‘Wholly unethical’: Gay conversion therapy does not work
The World Psychiatric Association has declared that conversion therapy is “wholly unethical.” Yet despite the legal bans, the retractions, the ...
This ‘psychedelic’ treatment can cure opioid addition. It also might kill you
With proper treatment, withdrawing from opioids won’t kill you, but it can make you want to die. … The desperation ...
Oxitec’s GMO mosquitoes spread their genes in the wild? Separating science from hype after controversial new study
Did the mosquito experiment go wrong? ...
Asia is pulling ahead in the AI race – but are ethics being prioritized?
Globally, future outlooks for artificial intelligence (AI) swing between two extremes—excited anticipation about the positive impact AI will have on ...
Can we trust self-regulation? As artificial embryos creep closer to the real thing, when do we hit pause?
[R]esearchers at the University of Michigan are reporting that they’ve learned to efficiently manufacture realistic models of human embryos from stem cells ...
FDA investigation: Traces of possible carcinogens found in common heartburn meds, including Zantac, raising pharmaceutical supply chain safety concerns
Regulators in the U.S. and Europe are investigating why traces of a possible carcinogen were found in certain heartburn drugs, ...
Meet Garlic, China’s first ever cloned cat
Devastated by the death of his previous cat, Garlic, Huang [Yu] sought the services of biotechnology company Sinogene. The Beijing-based ...
