This Week — David P. Gushee, PhD, continues his Sanctity of Life series with an essay entitled,
“The Old Testament and the Sanctity of Life.”

Podcast

Also This Week — 2008 US Presidential Candidates and Bioethics Information Guide

Candidates are explored with respect to documented positions on: Stem Cell Research, Cloning & Animal Human Hybrids, Abortion, Health Care. (More)

CBHD Executive Director Announcment

After two years of faithful service as executive director of The Center for Bioethics & Human Dignity (CBHD), Dr. C. Ben Mitchell is stepping down on July 1, 2008, in order to devote himself to full-time teaching, research, and writing. He will be on sabbatical during the summer and fall semester of 2008 and return to his regular teaching duties in spring 2009 at Trinity International University. The Center is grateful for Dr. Mitchell's leadership, for his passionate and insightful contributions to the field of bioethics, and for his ongoing ministry at Trinity. (More)

Quote of the Week —

— Dr. Robb MacLellan, an associate professor of cardiology and physiology at UCLA, in "Researchers create heart and blood cells from reprogrammed skin cells," PhysOrg, May 2, 2008.

Designing the Genes of Future Generations
May 7, 2008 at 7:30pm
Michelin Theatre, Discovery Centre ,1593 Barrington St.
Halifax, NS

The Nuffield Council on Bioethics Public Lecture 2008: The ranking of values as a basis for ethical decision making
May 7, 2008
The Royal Society, 6-9 Carlton House Terrace
London SW1Y 5AG
Email: cperkins@nuffieldbioethics.org
Tel: +44 20 7681 9619

Ethical Challenges in Surgical Innovation
May 8-9, 2008
InterContinental Hotel & Bank of America Conference Center
Cleveland, OH
Tel: 216/ 932-3448

5th International Symposium of the Definition of Death Network
May 20-23, 2008
Plaza America Convention Center
Varadero Beach, Cuba

Emerging Issues in Embryo Donation and Adoption
May 29-31, 2008
Marriot Crystal Gateway
Arlington, Virginia

Call for Abstracts: Challenges to Ethical Considerations in Research in the East Mediterranean and Arab Region: Research Subjects, Researchers and Research Ethics Committees Perspectives
Deadline: May 31, 2008
Research Policy and Cooperation Unit
Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office, WHO,
Email: rpc@emro.who.int
Tel: +2 02 227 65028 / +2 02 227 65348
Fax: +2 02 227 65421

Dual Uses of Biomedicine: Whose responsibility?
X Annual Swedish Symposium on Biomedicine, Ethics and Society
June 9-10, 2008
Seglarhotellet, Sandhamn
Phone: +46 18 611 22 96
E-mail: crb@crb.uu.se

Stem Cell Research and Commercial Applications: Isolation, Expansion, Therapy, Commercialisation and Manufacturing
June 25-26, 20008
Sheraton Towers Hotel, Singapore
Email: greg.moyle@informa.com
Fax: +65 65143173

UNESCO Ethics Teacher Training Course
November 17-21, 2008
Minsk, Belarus

South Korea aims to become Asia’s new medical travel hub
Helped by active government support, a boom in cosmetic surgery and a pool of experienced surgeons, the country wants to surpass Singapore, Thailand and India to become Asia’s new medical tourism hub. (AFP)

Gene therapy experiments improve vision in nearly blind
Scientists for the first time have used gene therapy to dramatically improve sight in people with a rare form of blindness, a development experts called a major advance for the experimental technique. (AP)

Monday, April 28, 2008

Half man, half chimp - should we beware the apeman’s coming?
A LEADING scientist has warned a new species of “humanzee,” created from breeding apes with humans, could become a reality unless the government acts to stop scientists experimenting. (The Scotsman)

McCain pushes choice as health care fix
Republican presidential candidate John McCain called on Tuesday for greater competition for health care coverage for Americans, saying more choices for insurance will drive down costs and improve the system. (Reuters)

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

New type of stem cells coaxed into heart tissue
A new type of powerful stem cell made from ordinary skin cells has been coaxed into becoming three different types of heart and blood cells in mice, U.S. researchers reported on Wednesday. (Reuters)

Philippines Bans Kidney Transplants for Foreigners
The Philippines is banning kidney transplants for foreigners, as part of a government crackdown on a growing but illicit trade in human organs bought from the poor, officials said Tuesday. (New York Times)

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Report boosts bipartisan health plan
A bipartisan plan for universal health care coverage would pay for itself and eventually could create modest budget surpluses, according to a congressional report released Thursday. (AP)

Op-Ed: Embryonic Stem Cells 2.0
When Shinya Yamanaka of Kyoto University reported his transformation of cultured mouse skin cells into a state approximating that of embryonic stem cells1, he was met with plenty of scepticism. Other scientists hadn’t anticipated that such a feat was possible. “Nobody else was even close to doing the same experiment,” says Richard Young of the Whitehead Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts. “That was a very special breakthrough.” (Nature)

Thursday, May 1, 2008

Congress Passes Bill to Bar Bias Based on Genes
On the House floor on Thursday, Democrats and Republicans alike cited anecdotes and polls illustrating that people feel they should not be penalized because they happened to be born at higher risk for a given disease. (New York Times)

The (Nano)Silver Bullet
Your toothpaste may be a pesticide. So might your electric razor, your computer keyboard, and your child’s teddy bear. These products, and scores of others, combine one of the world’s oldest disinfectants–silver–with one of its hottest new industries: nanotechnology. The manufacturers of these products boast that they fight bacteria, molds, and fungus. Therefore, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), these products may be pesticides. Though this may sound like a Rush Limbaugh story line about paranoid eco-Nazis, the reality is that we’re lacing ordinary household goods with known toxins. And until scientific testing and federal laws catch up with this new technology, we may be exposing the environment–and our own bodies–to untold harm. (The New Republic)

Friday, May 2, 2008

Each week the top news stories, as determined by the staff at The Center for Bioethics & Human Dignity are sent out via email.

[Note: News stories, Quote of the Week, and events do not represent the Center's views. For additional commentary on many of the issues they raise, please see the CBHD web site at www.cbhd.org.]

Please visit http://www.bioethics.com for daily posts on bioethics news and issues.