Bioethics.net

May 14, 2018 9:00 am

As lab-grown meat advances, U.S. lawmakers call for regulation (Science)

Lab-grown chicken, beef, and duck products are edging toward the U.S. market—despite enduring confusion about how they’ll be regulated. But language buried in a draft spending bill released by a U.S. House of Representatives appropriations panel this week suggests some lawmakers are eager to get rules in place. A one-sentence proposal in the bill would put the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in charge of regulating products made from the cells of livestock or poultry, and instructs the agency to issue rules about how it will oversee their manufacture and labeling.

April 20, 2018 9:00 am

Why doctors don’t use alternatives to opioids (The New York Times)

As Congress deliberates how to respond to the surging opioid epidemic, a number of bills have been introduced to support the development and Food and Drug Administration approval of a non-opioid pain medication. But the problem in American medicine is not a lack of alternatives to opioids, but the minimal utilization of the many non-opioid treatments for pain that already exist.

April 3, 2018 6:46 pm

California Supreme Court lets stand controversial law allowing DNA collection upon arrest (The Los Angeles Times)

December 22, 2017 9:00 am

Ohio bill would prohibit abortions in Down syndrome cases (CNN)

The bill prohibits abortions after tests reveal Down syndrome in a fetus or if there’s “any other reason to believe” the fetus has the genetic condition. A person performing an abortion in such a case could face a fourth-degree felony charge, and physicians could lose their licenses. The woman seeking the abortion would not be held accountable, according to the bill.

December 12, 2017 9:00 am

Regulations Amending the Food and Drug Regulations (Public Release of Clinical Information) (Government of Canada)

Without access to detailed clinical data, health professionals and researchers are unable to perform independent analyses of the evidence underlying published research findings and Health Canada’s regulatory reviews. This approach limits transparency and misses opportunities to promote greater confidence in the oversight of drugs and medical devices. It is also out of step with Health Canada’s key regulatory partners, including the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which have increased clinical data transparency over the past 10 years.

November 9, 2017 9:00 am

Infusions of young blood tested in patients with dementia (Nature)

The first controlled, but controversial and small, clinical trial of giving young blood to people with dementia has reported that the procedure appears safe. It has also hinted that it may even produce modest improvements in the daily lives of people who have Alzheimer’s disease.

October 30, 2017 9:00 am

Special Report: U.S. company makes a fortune selling bodies donated to science (Reuters)

McDonald’s and Kroc got rich selling hamburgers. Science Care and Rogers have made millions from human body parts. From 2012 through 2014, Rogers and his co-owner, wife Josie, parlayed the donated dead into at least $12.5 million in earnings, according to Internal Revenue Service audits and court documents reviewed by Reuters.

October 11, 2017 9:00 am

Is it easier to buy guns than Sudafed? (CNN)

“It is harder in America to buy two packs of Sudafed than 10 assault rifles,” comedian D.L. Hughley said on his radio show Monday, the day after a gunman opened fire on a concert crowd in Las Vegas.

September 7, 2017 9:00 am

Massive Ebola data site planned to combat outbreaks (Nature)

More than 11,000 people died when Ebola tore through West Africa between 2014 and 2016, and yet clinicians still lack data that would enable them to reliably identify the disease when a person first walks into a clinic. To fill that gap and others before the next outbreak hits, researchers are developing a platform to organize and share Ebola data that have so far been scattered beyond reach.

August 16, 2017 9:00 am

Commit to talks on patient data and public health (Nature)

Of course it was going to happen — and now it has. Last week, an international team reported the use of CRISPR–Cas9 gene-editing techniques to correct a heart-wrenching mutation in human embryos. These attempts worked several times more efficiently than previous ones had, and avoided introducing new genetic errors. Although the embryos were never destined to be used for pregnancies (and have now been destroyed), the work — carried out mainly in the United States — makes it easy to foresee practical applications to genetically alter human embryos.