Barbara Pfeffer Billauer
Legislating nicotine reduction? Some smoke, mostly mirrors
The Biden administration recently announced plans to reduce nicotine in cigarettes to “minimally or non-addictive levels.” This is not a ...
Fertility fraud: Direct-to-consumer DNA tests show thousands of women are illegally impregnated every year by deviant doctors. The laws need updating
To thousands of women gifted with childbirth through assisted reproductive technologies (ART) and their children - the practice can only ...
Viewpoint: Ethical concerns abound over plans for uterine transplants for trans women
Cis and Trans are words I first learned in chemistry. They describe different isomers — compounds with the same chemical ...
Viewpoint: Anti-vaccine backlash is not going away — and its long term consequences are grim
As of January 25, 2022, some 40% of Americans [1] have not been fully vaccinated. [2] This, notwithstanding valiant efforts ...
Henrietta Lacks’ immortal genes are now the subject of a legal battle
Remarkable in life, a stylish Black woman who loved to cook and dance, Henrietta Lacks is even more remarkable in her ...
When the US was hit by polio and smallpox epidemics, the public embraced vaccines with little resistance. What changed?
The year was 1947 – the last smallpox invasion in America. Ground zero: New York City. The carrier: an ex-pat ...
Bereitschaftspotential effect: Brain-to-computer interfaces are all the rage, but legal issues about how and why we act complicate risks
As I’ve written recently, a spate of devices enabling people with quadriplegia to move their extremities have been approved by ...
Viewpoint: ‘Magic promised by genetically pruning ‘defective’ embryos has fairy-dusted the eyes of even the most intelligent’ — Maybe it’s time to hit the pause button
Advances in genetics have been revolutionized in the last few years. First came CRISPR, which can edit single genes, possibly ...
Can anything be done to counter anti-vaccination activists?
Recently, anti-vaxxers protests shut down the mass vaccination program underway at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. In Israel, the global poster child ...
Will cruise ships be found liable for passengers testing COVID positive during or after a cruise?
Dozens of suits have now been brought against cruise lines… The industry is responding by defending their sterilization and cleaning ...
