If you’re arrested for a felony in the state of California, expect to give up a DNA sample. As of January 1, California police departments began taking and storing genetic samples from all adults arrested for felonies, regardless of whether they go on to charge those people with crimes, or whether the suspects are ultimately convicted. Meanwhile, the FBI and 15 states now collect DNA samples from immigrants who are detained, and 16 states store genetic samples from people found guilty of misdemeanors.
The intent is to create a large genetic database that will allow police to solve more crimes, but critics say the cumulative effect may be unconstitutional. Criminal justice experts cite Fourth Amendment privacy concerns and worry that the nation is becoming a genetic surveillance society…. “What we object to — and what the Constitution prohibits — is the indiscriminate taking of DNA for things like writing an insufficient funds check, shoplifting, drug convictions,” said Michael Risher, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union [The New York Times].
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The Obama administration’s new guidelines for research using human embryonic stem cells have staked out a compromise position, avoiding some controversial areas while still encouraging a large expansion of federally-funded research. The proposed regulations would allow research on stem cells taken from surplus embryos at fertility clinics, where in vitro fertilization generally creates more embryos than will be implanted, and embryos not used are destroyed or kept frozen. The guidelines would allow couples to donate embryos for research, as long as they are not paid and are fully informed of their options [Washington Post].
However, the guidelines do not sanction the use of embryos created specifically for research purposes, an extra step that officials say does not yet have public or political support. The draft guidelines also forbid funding for lines derived through parthenogenesis, a form of asexual reproduction in which an unfertilized egg is developed into an embryo. The International Stem Cell Corporation, a California company, has reported deriving stem cells from parthenotes [Nature News]. Finally, the guidelines prohibit the use of stem cells from human embryos created by cloning, although no such embryos are known to exist.
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A neuroscientist whose car was firebombed by violent animal rights activists has decided to fight back, at least in the court of public opinion. The UCLA professor, David Jentsch, has formed a group called UCLA Pro-Test, and is organizing a rally in support of animal testing. “People always say: ‘Don’t respond. If you respond, that will give [the attackers] credibility,’” Jentsch, 37, said in a recent interview in his UCLA office. “But being silent wasn’t making us feel safer. And it’s a moot point if they are coming to burn your car anyway, whether you give them credibility or not” [Los Angeles Times].
UCLA Pro-Test, named after a similar group in the United Kingdom, wants to show its support for animal research that is conducted in a humane and regulated way. Jentsch studies schizophrenia and drug addiction, and works on both rodents and vervet monkeys.
The Animal Liberation Brigade took credit for bombing Jentsch’s Volvo as it sat in his driveway in the early morning hours of March 7. The activist group wrote in an Internet posting: “The things you and others like you do to feeling, sentient monkeys is so cruel and disgusting we can’t believe anyone would be able to live with themselves…. David, here’s a message just for you, we will come for you when you least expect it and do a lot more damage than to your property” [Los Angeles Times].
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Modafinil, a drug officially approved to treat narcolepsy but increasingly used off-label to improve cognitive performance, has been shown to carry a greater risk of addiction than was previously thought.
Brain scans of 10 healthy men taking Provigil, the version of modafinil made by the pharmaceutical company Cephalon, showed increased levels of dopamine in the part of the brain involved in pleasure and addiction. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter, a chemical that carries messages from nerve cell to nerve cell or other tissues. Drugs that increase dopamine have the potential for abuse [USA Today]. The demonstrated effect is similar to that known to accompany classically addictive stimulants, and federal health officials hope that the findings will serve as a warning that modafinil may have unexpected and tragic consequences for people who use it simply for a brain boost [LA Times].
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President Obama will lift restrictions on human embryonic stem cell research today, reversing the policy put into place by George W. Bush eight years ago that strictly limited federal financing of the research. By signing an executive order today, President Obama will fulfill a campaign promise to encourage medical research on embryonic stem cells, which scientists believe hold enormous potential to treat a host of diseases and injuries. Researchers who have struggled to find funding for embryonic stem cell work are rejoicing over the decision. “Hallelujah! This marks the end of a long and repressive chapter in scientific history. It’s the stem cell ‘emancipation proclamation’,” said Dr. Robert Lanza of Advanced Cell Technology in Massachusetts [Reuters].
A science adviser to the president also said that Obama will issue a memorandum to “restore public confidence in the process by which scientific policy is used to guide government action,” by directing his administration to draft guidelines for the use of scientific information and the appointment of outside science advisers [The New York Times]. Science advisers say the president wants to make clear that his political agenda will not trump scientific judgment, in sharp contrast to the previous administration. The decision by President George W. Bush to restrict funding for stem cell research has been seen by critics as part of a pattern of allowing political ideology to influence scientific decisions across an array of issues, including climate change and whether to approve the morning-after pill Plan B for over-the-counter sales [Washington Post].
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Some doctors are so concerned about being negatively reviewed on Web sites like Yelp, RateMDs, and Angie’s List that they are asking patients to sign gag orders that bar them from posting negative online reviews. A company called Medical Justice, which seeks to protect doctors against medical malpractice claims, advices doctors to have each patient sign the non-disclosure agreement–and if the patient refuses, to turn him away.
“Consumers and patients are hungry for good information” about doctors, but Internet reviews provide just the opposite, contends Dr. Jeffrey Segal, a North Carolina neurosurgeon [and the founder of Medical Justice]. Some sites “are little more than tabloid journalism without much interest in constructively improving practices,” and their sniping comments can unfairly ruin a doctor’s reputation, Segal said [AP]. About 2,000 doctors have signed up for the service since it was launched two years ago. Segal claims that privacy laws and medical ethics prevent doctors from defending themselves on the review sites.
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The nation’s largest primate research center has been accused of mistreating its monkeys and apes by the Human Society, which sent an undercover investigator to work at the research center for nine months. The New Iberia Research Laboratory houses more than 6,000 primates, including rhesus macaques and several hundred chimpanzees, on a sprawling 100-acre site in rural Louisiana. On its website, the Humane Society has posted clips of the video footage that show monkeys with open wounds, chimps being sedated with dart guns and falling from their perches onto the floor [The Scientist].
The Humane Society filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, listing 328 possible violations of the Animal Welfare Act. In response, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack ordered an investigation of the facility. “In light of the video evidence presented today, I am ordering a thorough investigation of animal welfare practices at New Iberia Research Center,” Vilsack said. “If the allegations prove to be true, the American public can expect the perpetrators to be held fully accountable. I take the protection of animals very seriously, and will do my utmost to fully enforce the Animal Welfare Act” [The Times-Picayune].
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Washington state’s “death with dignity” law goes into effect today, making Washington the second state in the nation to allow terminally ill people to hasten their own deaths. The state’s voters approved the assisted suicide initiative by a broad margin in a November vote. Modeled closely on a decade-old Oregon law, it allows physicians to prescribe lethal doses of medication to terminally ill patients determined to have six months or less to live [Seattle Times].
In a nod towards the controversial nature of assisted suicide, the new law does not compel all hospitals and doctors to help their patients die. An opt-out provision for hospitals was included, partly for the sake of health care providers affiliated with religious groups like the Roman Catholic Church, though many nonreligious hospitals have also invoked it. “I don’t think it’s necessarily a faith-based decision,” said Julie Petersen, the administrator of one public hospital that will not participate, Prosser Memorial, in a rural area of eastern Washington. “I think it’s probably more a reflection of the community” [The New York Times].
But while the new law was expected to go into practice without much fuss in Washington, across the country in Georgia several “right-to-die” activists were arrested for helping a 58-year-old man kill himself.
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The Obama administration is preparing to roll back a rule that prevents discrimination against medical workers who refuse to take part in procedures, provide medication, or hand out information based on their moral or religious beliefs. As 80beats reported in December, the Bush administration pushed the rule through as one of its final policy initiatives. Seven states, including California, Illinois and Connecticut, and two family-planning groups have filed lawsuits challenging the Bush rule. They argue that it sacrifices the health of patients to the religious beliefs of medical providers [Los Angeles Times].
Pre-existing federal law protects doctors and nurses who decline to provide abortion services because of their ethical beliefs, and changing the so-called conscience rule would have no effect on that law. But an official from the Department of Health and Human Services says the Bush administration’s rule is too broad. “We’ve been concerned that the way the Bush rule is written it could make it harder for women to get the care they need. It is worded so vaguely that some have argued it could limit family planning counseling and even potentially blood transfusions and end-of-life care” [Washington Post], an unnamed department official said.
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The recent birth of octuplets in California has riveted the nation’s attention with the strange story of Nadya Suleman, who had six young children at home but went back to a fertility clinic for more. The 33-year-old Suleman says she used in vitro fertilization to have six embryos implanted, and that two of those embryos split into twins. But the incident has shone a bright light on the $1 billion fertility industry, and has many people wondering about the ethics of implanting so many embryos simultaneously. The California Medical Board says it is investigating the doctor who implanted Suleman…. The consequences could range from a reprimand to loss of medical license [CBS News].
The American Society for Reproductive Medicine adopted guidelines in 2008 encouraging the transfer of only one embryo for women under 35, and no more than two, except in extraordinary circumstances. The guidelines allow more for older women, up to a maximum of five. But unlike some other countries, the United States has no laws to enforce those guidelines [The New York Times]. Given the expense of each attempt at in vitro fertilization and the fact that not all implanted embryos develop successfully, many women prevail upon their doctors to implant multiple embryos–according to federal statistics, only 11 percent of in vitro procedures in the United States involve a solitary embryo.
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Health care workers who have a moral or religious objection to a medical procedure can’t be punished or discriminated against if they refuse to perform it, according to a sweeping new rule (pdf) announced by the Bush administration yesterday. The right-to-refuse rule includes abortion, but [the department of Health and Human Services] said it extends to other aspects of health care where moral concerns could arise, including birth control, emergency contraception, in vitro fertilization, stem cell research or assisted suicide. The rule will take effect the day before President George W. Bush leaves office [Baltimore Sun]. If a hospital, clinic, pharmacy, health plan, or any other medical establishment refuses to follow the new law it will forfeit all federal funding.
The rule has been eagerly anticipated by anti-abortion activists, but has raised furious objections from family planning groups and much of the medical establishment (groups such as the American Medical Association and the American Hospital Association opposed the regulation). Officials at hospitals and clinics predicted the regulation will cause widespread disruptions, forcing family planning centers and fertility clinics, for example, to hire employees even if they oppose abortions or in vitro fertilization procedures that can destroy embryos. “It is going to cause chaos among providers across the country,” said Cecile Richards of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. The regulation could also make it difficult for states to enforce laws such as those requiring hospitals to offer rape victims the morning-after pill, experts said [Washington Post].
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With robotics companies already selling devices that allow us to outsource intimate tasks like caring for children and the elderly, a concerned researcher is advising society to grapple with the ethical implications of relying on robots for personal care now, before the consumer trend goes any further. In an essay in the journal Science [subscription required], robotics expert Noel Sharkey notes that an estimated 5.5 million professional and personal service robots (a category that doesn’t include industrial robots) were sold in 2008, and says sales are likely to reach 11.5 million by 2011.
Babysitting robots are already on the market: They make conversation, recognize faces and keep track of kids. They’re not a replacement for TV or games, but for personal care — and some researchers worry that kids will be harmed. “If you leave a small child in front of the TV, you have to keep popping in to make sure they’re OK. But these are so safe that people will eventually leave their children in the care of robots” [Wired News], says Sharkey. No one knows what the long-term effects might be of letting an isolated child depend on a robot for companionship and learning, he says.
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The first face transplant operation in the United States has been completed and initial results are positive, reports the medical team at the Cleveland Clinic. The patient, who had suffered severe facial disfigurement from trauma, had 80 percent of her face replaced with one taken from a cadaver, leaving only her own upper eyelids, forehead, lower lip, and chin. After the transplant, “I must tell you how happy she was when with both her hands she could go over her face and feel that she has a nose, feel that she has a jaw,” said the lead surgeon, Dr. Maria Siemionow [AP].
Although the woman’s identity and the nature of her trauma has not been revealed, doctors say her injuries were so severe that she lacked a nose and palate, and could not eat or breathe on her own without a special opening into her windpipe [AP]. The 22-hour-long surgery took place sometime in the last two weeks and is the most radical facial transplant ever attempted. Along with about 500 square centimeters of skin, the transplant also included bones, muscles, blood vessels, nerves, a nose, sinuses, the upper jaw, and even some teeth. The doctors hoped the operation would allow her to regain her sense of smell and ability to smile [AFP].
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The Vatican has issued new ethical guidelines in response to the biomedical advances of the last 20 years, and has come down hard on assisted reproduction technologies and genetic engineering. The document, Dignitas Personae (which translates as “human dignity”), reaffirm the church’s opposition to in vitro fertilization. It also tells Catholics that the church also doesn’t condone “adopting” leftover fertilized embryos from fertility clinics, and frowns upon the genetic testing of embryos before implantation, which could lead to the embryo being discarded. The Vatican says these techniques violate the principles that every human life — even an embryo — is sacred, and that babies should be conceived only through intercourse by a married couple [The New York Times].
These instructions stem from two fundamental theological principles: that life begins at conception and that the origin of human life is the “fruit of marriage.” … The document now makes clear that the morning-after pill, RU-486, and intrauterine devices (IUDs), which either intercept the embryo before implantation or eliminate it after implantation, “fall within the sin of abortion” [Scientific American]. The guidelines may come as a surprise to many Catholics who don’t realize that the church takes such a strict stance on medical technologies like in vitro fertilization that are often seen as routine and beneficial.
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If you could take a pill to boost your concentration and mental stamina, would you do it? Around the country, thousands of college students are already answering “yes” to that question and are using prescription medications like Ritalin as study aids, and researchers say the demand for such “smart pills” is likely to grow. Now, in a new essay, a group of neuroscientists and bioethicists is arguing that society shouldn’t frown on such practices; instead the authors assert that “we should welcome new methods of improving our brain function,” and that doing it with pills is no more morally objectionable than eating right or getting a good night’s sleep [Chronicle of Higher Education].
Stimulants like Ritalin and Adderall are prescribed for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and are commonly used by people without a prescription to help them focus their attention, while a narcolepsy drug called Provigil is sometimes used by people trying to keep their brains alert and awake. The new essay cited a recent survey that found nearly 7 percent of students in U.S. universities have used prescription stimulants, and on some campuses, as many as a quarter of students have used the drugs for non-therapeutic purposes. “It’s a felony, but it’s being done,” [coauthor Martha] Farah said [Reuters].
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