September 2006

Chinese prisoners ‘voluntarily’ donate organs before execution

Organ sales are brisk with organs taken from executed prisoners in China. And with executions on the rise, officials say there is a surplus. China leads the world in prison executions. And some would add, human rights violations. Qin Gang, Foreign ministry spokesman stated, “It is complete fabrication ….to say that China forcibly takes organs […]

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Continuing the Ramsey Legacy: A conversation with Edmund Pellegrino (2004 Ramsey Award Recipient)

Last year, I had the opportunity to chat with Dr. Edmund Pellegrino. Dr. Pellegrino received the first Paul Ramsey Award in 2004 and since then, has taken over as Chairmanof the President’s Council on Bioethics. The role of the council is to advise the president on “ethical issues related to advances in biomedical science and […]

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Pink for Girls — Blue for Boys

In the U.S. sex selection by pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) is growing in popularity. Dr. Jeffrey Steinberg, the medical director of the Fertility Institutes says this about using technology for sex selection, “It performs a much desired service. We are making people happy.” 42% of U.S. clinics offer PGD for non medically indicated sex selection. […]

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Paypal co-founder wants to help you live forever

Controversial scientist Aubrey de Grey of the Methuselah Foundation in Springfield, VA just received $3.5 million from Peter A. Thiel, co-founder and former chief executive officer of the online payments system PayPal. de Gray, an aging researcher hopes to radical postpone aging and give us indefinate life spans. de Gray said, “we have vintage cars […]

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Continuing the Ramsey Legacy: A conversation with Edmund Pellegrino (2004 Ramsey Award Recipient)

Last year, I had the opportunity to chat with Dr. Edmund Pellegrino. Dr. Pellegrino received the first Paul Ramsey Award in 2004 and since then, has taken over as Chairmanof the President”s Council on Bioethics. The role of the council is toadvise the president on “ethical issues related to advances inbiomedical science and technology.” Here […]

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The Allusive Informed Consent

I hear about it all the time when it comes to using young women and their eggs for embryo stem cell and cloning research: “They have givenvoluntary consent”, “We have informed them of the risks.” I hear it referred to and quoted often as a way to assure ourselves with our hands over our hearts […]

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Repeat After Me–There is no egg fairy

Today the LA Times has this piece which highlights a new stem cell ethical issue that has emerged. Scientist have a bottleneck. They are ready to go on the research but they don’t have the eggs they need. What planet are they on? A new ethical issue? For years, we have been highlighting the concern […]

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The Human Face of the U.S. Eugenics Movement

Philosopher George Santayana said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Elements of the early eugenics movement in America were models for the Nazis. The eugenics archives has a comprehensive website of documents from the Eugenics Record Office where the Eugenics movement in America is exhaustively chronicled. The Chicago Tribune has […]

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The Hard Cell

(from the weeklystandard.com IT HAS BEEN ABOUT two weeks since the international mediaexcitedly declared to the world that Robert Lanza, head scientist at Massachusetts biotechnology firm Advanced Cell Technology, had derived human embryonic stem cells without destroying embryos. The story sparked a media feeding frenzy, with newspapers and television storiesaround the world loudly applauding the […]

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A quick way out of a life sentence

The United Kingdom abolished their capital punishment laws the same year they decriminalized abortion but is now considering voluntary euthanasia for prisoners facing a life time in jail. Mark Leech, described as an ex con who ‘turned his life around’ is editor of the Prisons Handbook and favors this pro-active practice. Holding up Dignitas, the […]

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Women Friendly Infertility Technology

One concern I have always had, was treating women like holstein cows. Using veterinary style medicine on infertile women. Pumping them full of potent hormones to turn them into breeding – egg spitting out machines. So, I have been following rather closely, a new woman friendly form of IVF. Here is a recent study from […]

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California: The Reproductive Capital of the World

A busy media time as the baby business is bustling. Approximately 8 million U.S. women suffering from some type of infertility. Are we playing God? You tell me. Listen hear to the interview I did with PBS on their Religion and Ethics Newsweekly program. Debora Spar of Harvard, is also on the program–You may recall […]

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The Hard Cell

(from the weeklystandard.com IT HAS BEEN ABOUT two weeks since the international media excitedly declared to the world that Robert Lanza, head scientist at Massachusetts biotechnology firm Advanced Cell Technology, had derived human embryonic stem cells without destroying embryos. The story sparked a media feeding frenzy, with newspapers and television stories around the world loudly […]

Read the full article →