Vaccines produced with fetus. Izpisua experiments: our ethical assessment. Effects of euthanasia legalization, etc. Nº 51

Vaccines produced with fetus. Izpisua experiments: our ethical assessment. Effects of euthanasia legalization, etc. Nº 51

nº 51                                                              Contact us HERE   January 2017

REPORTS

Ethical reflection on the latest biomedical experiments by Juan Carlos Izpisua and his group Over the last few days, some of the biomedical experiments conducted by Juan Carlos Izpisua and his group — in which researchers from several Spanish universities take part — have been widely reported by various media... Read more.

She aborted her child to save her brother's life. A paradigmatic case of medical and ethical manipulation Can bone marrow really not be obtained from a pregnant woman? Because if it can, there would be no medical reason to have to resort to abortion… Read more.

Is it true that there are vaccines produced using aborted foetuses? Some of the vaccines currently used to prevent diseases such as rubella, measles, rabies, poliomyelitis, hepatitis A, chickenpox or smallpox are produced using tissues from human abortions… Read more.

NEWS

Functional eggs obtained for the first time from mouse skin Scientists in Japan have transformed mouse skin cells into eggs and have managed to obtain fertile offspring after their fertilisation. This study represents the first production of eggs… Read more.

Preimplantation genetic diagnosis. Does it improve the effectiveness of IVF? There is no doubt that a medical and ethical objective is to improve the effectiveness of in vitro fertilisation (IVF), i.e. improve pregnancy rates, but there appears to have been a failure to achieve this for now… Read more.

Incidence of the Zika virus and its ethical aspects The Zika virus, which we have been reporting on in our Observatory (see HERE), is an arbovirus that is causing health problems on a global scale … Read more.

Euthanasia. Attitudes and practice in countries where they have been legalised  The ethical and legal aspects of euthanasia and assisted suicide continue to be the subject of active controversy. Some countries have recently legalised these practices, while others…  Read more.

Global abortion figures suggest measures to prevent them  Knowing the incidence of abortion in different parts of the world is important in order to promote measures to prevent it. In a recent article by our Observatory, we discussed an extensive study in The Lancet that addressed this issue… Read more.

IN BRIEF

The incidence of suicidal behaviour in Spain is very high The incidence of suicidal behaviour has risen in Spain from barely 6 cases per 100,000 population at the end of the last century, to over 11 per 100,000 at present, while other regions, such as the Nordic countries, have managed to reduce self-destructive behaviours… Read more.

Euthanasia applied to a minor in Belgium for the first time News spread that euthanasia had been applied to a minor in Belgium for the first time.  In 2014, Belgium became the second country — after the Netherlands — to decriminalise this practice for minors… Read more.

New breakthrough in the treatment of Crohn's disease using cell therapy Findings of the first phase 3 randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial, in which the authors assessed the safety and efficacy of treatment, have now been published in the Lancet. The… Read more.

Tissues production using 3D printing: a hopeful but distant possibility A topic that has major ethical connotations is  tissues and organs production using the innovative 3D printing technique. A recent article in The Lancet discusses some of its possibilities and states... Read more.

Embryonic stem cells treatment is used to treat spinal cord injury  The University of Southern California announced that a team of doctors became the first in California to inject an experimental treatment made from embryonic stem cells. Kris Boesen, a recently paralysed 21-year-old man… Read more.