Human Embryos News and Research

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Stem cells grown in lab mirror normal developmental steps

Johns Hopkins scientists have developed a way to study the earliest steps of human blood development using human embryonic stem cells grown in a lab dish instead of the embryos themselves.

20 Jun 2005

U.S. House of Representatives approve two bills on stem-cell research

Two new bills related to stem-cell research have been approved by the U.S. House of Representatives one promoting non-destructive methods and the other supporting research resulting in the death of unborn children.

26 May 2005

Guidelines for research involving human embryonic stem cells

The National Academies today recommended guidelines for research involving human embryonic stem cells, and urged all institutions conducting such research to establish oversight committees to ensure that the new guidelines will be followed.

26 Apr 2005

Time for ethical reflection is before experimentation begins

The time for ethical reflection is before experimentation begins, especially in the case of potential new methods for creating human embryos for research, according to bioethicists from Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center and the Mayo Clinic in the spring issue of Ethics & Medicine.

16 Mar 2005

UN votes to ban human cloning

By a vote of 84 in favor, 34 against and 37 abstaining, with 36 absent, the UN today approved a declaration calling on all UN Member States to ban all forms of human cloning, including cloning for medical treatment, as incompatible with human dignity and the protection of human life.

9 Mar 2005

Stem research made safer

A team at Harvard Medical School and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, looking for ways to make safer stem cells for use in medical therapies, say they have grown human cells without the use of contaminating animal cells.

8 Mar 2005

New system for growing human embryonic stem cells could make therapies utilising the cells safer for patients

A new system for growing human embryonic stem cells could make therapies utilising the cells safer for patients, concludes a study published online by The Lancet (Tuesday, March 8, 2005).

8 Mar 2005

Americans support appropriate use of reproductive genetic testing

A majority of Americans believes it is appropriate to use reproductive genetic testing to avoid having a child with a life-threatening disease, or to test embryos to see if they will be a good match to provide cells to help a sick sibling, a new report of the Genetics and Public Policy Center reveals.

20 Feb 2005

Massachusetts support of stem cell research

The Massachusetts Medical Society, the statewide association of physicians with some 18,000 members, has offered testimony before the Joint Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies in support of Senate Bill 25, An Act Promoting Stem Cell Research.

17 Feb 2005

IVF process may lack natural growth factors in fluid

The lack of natural growth factors in the fluid in which IVF embryos are grown could have lifelong effects on people conceived this way. That is the implication of a study on mice by Australian researchers, who say preliminary studies of human embryos back their claims.

16 Feb 2005

As the 2004 Presidential election nears, the issue of human cloning and embryonic stem cell research is under intense debate

The United Nations, headed by Secretary General Kofi Annan is currently debating two proposals: one from Costa Rica and supported by the U.S. and sixty-two other countries that would ban all human cloning, and another from Belgium and twenty-one other countries that would allow cloning of human embryos but not their transfer to a womb.

25 Oct 2004

Americans overwhelmingly support stem cell research - 74-21 percent

By a decisive margin of 74-21 percent, Americans support former First Lady Nancy Reagan's call for the Bush White House to lift restrictions on stem cell research in order to look for possible treatments for the Alzheimer's disease

4 Oct 2004

Marijuana use may increase the risk of ectopic (tubal) pregnancies

It is not known whether drugs that block or, in the case of marijuana, over-stimulate the CB1 receptor can cause ectopic pregnancy in humans. However, "our results raise caution for women of reproductive ages regarding the chronic use of marijuana for recreation or pain alleviation," the researchers concluded.

27 Sep 2004

Pioneering work with human embryonic stem cells could speed up development of new treatments for Parkinson’s and diabetes

Pioneering work with human embryonic stem (hES) cells could speed up the development of new treatments for a range of degenerative disorders such as Parkinson’s disease and diabetes according to Dr Stephen Minger of King’s College London, speaking today at the BA Festival of Science.

8 Sep 2004

British team and NASA plan to take stem cells into space

The $US1 million project aims to explore ways to protect astronauts from space radiation in preparation for a manned mission to Mars in 2020.

12 Aug 2004

First licence for therapeutic cloning

Britain's Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority has granted the first licence to create human embryonic stem cells using cell nuclear transfer – a technique also known as therapeutic cloning.

11 Aug 2004

Offical Health and Human Services line on Bush's embryonic stem cell policy

Three years ago, President Bush opened the nation’s laboratory doors for the first time to federal taxpayer funding for human embryonic stem cell research.

9 Aug 2004

75 percent of Americans support call for more stem cell research

Public backing for stem cell research is neither a Republican nor Democratic issue and, as such, should not be turned into a political football during the 2004 elections, according to Civil Society Institute (CSI) President Pam Solo.

27 Jul 2004

California church coalition lends support to Proposition 71 for stem cell research

Supporters of Proposition 71 today announced the measure has been endorsed by California Church IMPACT, the legislative advocacy sister organization of the California Council of Churches. Proposition 71, the California Stem Cell Research and Cures Initiative

9 Jul 2004

Chromosomal chaos in early embryonic development is linked to abnormalities in cytokinesis and spindle formation

Abnormalities in the spindles (the bi-polar thread like structures that link and pull the chromosomes during cell division) of human embryos before implantation may be the primary reason for many of the chromosome defects observed in early human development

29 Jun 2004