This Week — Nigel M. de S. Cameron, PhD, the president/co-founder of the Institute on Biotechnology and the Human Future at the Illinois Institute of Technology offers his perspective on the 15 year history of CBHD, bioethics engagement and a challenge for our future, entitled “Why I founded CBHD: Some personal reflections 15 years on.”

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)

Quote of the Month —

"It is worth remembering that France, Germany, Italy, Canada and Australia have all banned the grotesque procedures we seek to legalise. Could it be that the citizens and politicians of those countries care nothing for the chronically ill among them? Perhaps they don't want to develop cures or therapies; perhaps they are simply anti-scientific luddites! Or could it be that we are wrong and these democracies see no reason to attack the sanctity and dignity of human life when many alternatives exist?"

— Cardinal Keith O’Brien, Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh, commeting on the current debate on whether or not scientists should create animal-human hybrid embryos, in "Stem cell chimeras," Guardian Unlimited, April 2, 2008.

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

The Curious Lives of Surrogates
Thousands of largely invisible American women have given birth to other people’s babies. Many are married to men in the military. (Newsweek)

UK’s first hybrid embryos created
Scientists at Newcastle University have created part-human, part-animal hybrid embryos for the first time in the UK, the BBC can reveal. The embryos survived for up to three days and are part of medical research into a range of illnesses. (BBC)

Fetal Cells Detected in Mothers’ Blood Years After Donor Egg Pregnancies
The fact that these fetal cells aren’t destroyed by the mother’s immune system points to an immune system suppression mechanism that may be harnessed to help prevent transplant rejection, said the researchers, who added that these stem cells may provide an easily accessible source of stem cells. (HealthDay)

Op-Ed: What comes after iPS?
It sounds like alchemy: cells within an organism are genetically almost identical, yet they form cell types as disparate as pulsing neurons, engulfing macrophages and enzyme-secreting villus cells. Recently developed techniques appear able to prompt cells from a terminally differentiated state into one in which they not only divide indefinitely but can, in theory, become any cell type found in adults. Last year’s advances in generating such cells from mice and humans have opened what could be a new era of pluripotent stem cell biology. (Nature)

Valuable blood discarded
99% of umbilical cord cells, which can be used to treat diseases, thrown out. (Akron Beacon Journal)

FDA to take key stem-cell step
Government advisors meet this week to discuss designs for embryonic stem cell testing in humans. (CNN)

German lawmakers vote to loosen limits on embryonic stem cell imports
German lawmakers voted Friday to loosen slightly a 2002 law that imposes strict limits on the use of embryonic stem cells for medical research, enabling scientists to import newer stem-cell lines. Following a debate that cut across party lines, the lower house of parliament approved the change by a 346-228 margin, with six abstentions. (International Herald Tribune)

Op-Ed: The Ethics of Designer Children
The ethics of this new technology has - as is traditionally been the case – lagged behind the scientific capability. Despite the engagement of prominent intellectuals—Jurgen Habermas, probably the most important living Continental philosopher wrote a short tract on it a few years ago (The Future of Human Nature), and now so has Michael Sandel—a truly public debate has not materialized, aside from brief flashes over Dolly the sheep and stem-cell research. In his discussion, Sandel brings up several fundamental issues: the role and importance of choice as such, the distinction between medical treatment and enhancement, and perfection of species as such. These slippery topics will hopefully make the following discussion more interesting. (IEET)

Op-Ed: One day, cloning may be accepted by society
Anyone interested in the fierce debate over the use of animal-human hybrid embryos in scientific research should take a look at a government report published in 2000 by the Chief Medical Officer’s expert group on stem cells. It states that the CMO, Sir Liam Donaldson, and his experts “concluded that the use of eggs from a non-human species to carry a human cell nucleus was not a realistic or desirable solution to the possible lack of human eggs for research or subsequent treatment”. I predict that the same sort of reaction will greet our report today about the possible use of a new cloning technique to treat infertile couples. Many scientists will dismiss the suggestion from Robert Lanza of Advanced Cell Technology that the technique could soon be used as an IVF technique, but one wonders for how long they will object? (Independent)

House backs funds ban for stem-cell research
The House quickly signed off Tuesday on legislation that would impose a Louisiana ban on use of public funds for most embryonic stem-cell research. (2theadvocate)

A genome for everyone takes a step closer to reality
The idea of having your personal genetic code unravelled was once a dream reserved for individuals who were fans of science or big on ego — and deep in pocket. But a new technique, described in the Thursday issue of the British journal Nature, has slashed the cost and time of genome sequencing, in an important step towards tailor-made medicine. (AFP)

Feds Back Stem Cell Surgery for Vets
$85 Million Federal Grant Announced for Orthopaedic Stem Cell Surgery Using Patients’ Own Cells. (ABC)

Deep thinkers see how things will be in 2058
The consensus view is that we’ll muddle through many of the issues that vex us today — including climate change and terror threats. And we’ll hit upon so many medical and technological wonders that today’s 50-year-olds will have a fair chance of finding out firsthand how the world will look in 2058. (MSNBC)

MEPs back Europe organ donor card
Euro MPs have called for an EU-wide organ donor card to tackle the shortage of organs for transplant. (BBC)

Senate passes genetic discrimination bill
The bill, described by Sen. Edward Kennedy as “the first major new civil rights bill of the new century,” would bar health insurance companies from using genetic information to set premiums or determine enrollment eligibility. Similarly, employers could not use genetic information in hiring, firing or promotion decisions. (AP)

Embryonic stem cell debate trips up Ohio cloning bill
The bill, which appeared ready to clear a Senate committee last week after introduction last year, has been slowed by the complex debate among lawmakers trying to balance medical ethics and Ohio’s economic development. Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland opposes the bill, and a narrower proposal two years ago did not pass the Republican-controlled Legislature. (Akron Beacon Journal)

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 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.