Bioethics News and Research

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Expert concerned genetic research could awaken racist attitudes

People are different, both physically and mentally, but genetically everyone is very similar.

17 Nov 2008

Expert warns it would be ill-advised to mandate HPV vaccinations at this time

Vaccinating girls against the human papillomavirus (HPV) before they are sexually active appears to be successful in protecting them against cervical cancer, however, a Johns Hopkins University researcher and health policy expert warns it would be ill-advised to mandate vaccinations at this time.

12 Nov 2008

Social injustice is killing people on a grand scale reports WHO's Commission

A child born in a Glasgow, Scotland suburb can expect a life 28 years shorter than another living only 13 kilometres away. A girl in Lesotho is likely to live 42 years less than another in Japan. In Sweden, the risk of a woman dying during pregnancy and childbirth is 1 in 17 400; in Afghanistan, the odds are 1 in 8. Biology does not explain any of this. Instead, the differences between - and within - countries result from the social environment where people are born, live, grow, work and age.

28 Aug 2008

Wake Forest University launches major initiatives in bioethics

Responding to a looming 'bioethics crisis,' Wake Forest University is launching several initiatives in bioethics to address the ethical and social aspects of medical care and technology.

18 Aug 2008

Medical profession must dissociate itself from torture and actively investigate and sanction offenders

Doctors who assist in torture or other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment should face prosecution and licensing punishments, says an editorial on BMJ.com.

31 Jul 2008

Olympic doping - scientists race to stay ahead of the drug-taking and genetic manipulation

The race to ensure that scientists stop drug-taking athletes from damaging sport by using performance enhancing drugs or undergoing genetic manipulation is a constant challenge, according to a major four-decade review by three of the World's leading experts on doping in sport.

29 Jul 2008

Indiana health officials examine state's pandemic influenza ethics planning

Information relevant to Indiana's current pandemic influenza preparedness plan was presented July 16 during a symposium convened by the Indiana State Department of Health and the Indiana University Center for Bioethics, "The Ethics of Pandemic Influenza Planning in Indiana: What Have We Done and Where Are We Going?"

17 Jul 2008

Ethics summit to prioritize concerns for medical triage, treatment and safety during influenza pandemic

Public health professionals from across the country will convene July 14-15 in Indianapolis for a national summit on ethical and policy issues faced by public health officials and the medical community while preparing for a large-scale epidemic.

2 Jul 2008

Stem cell research from an ethical point of view

New Springer book debates the moral status of the human embryo with special regard to stem cell research and therapy.

1 Jul 2008

Personal benefit, helping others motivate clinical trial participants

Most HIV-infected individuals participating in a clinical trial hope to benefit personally from the research but also understand they are contributing to society, according to a report in the June 23 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine.

24 Jun 2008

Some Northern California colleges banning campus blood drives because of FDA's policy barring MSM

Some colleges in Northern California have banned campus blood drives, saying that FDA's lifetime ban on donations from men who have had sex with men violates the schools' nondiscrimination policies, NPR's "All Things Considered" reports.

17 Jun 2008

FDA advisory panel voices concern over risks of HIV vaccine trials in teenagers

An FDA advisory panel on Monday voiced concern over the potential risks of conducting early HIV vaccine trials among teenagers in the U.S., Bloomberg reports. According to the panel, although such trials are justified in countries where HIV/AIDS is spreading more quickly, the risks might not outweigh the benefits in the U.S.

11 Jun 2008

Should research volunteers be told results?

Every year, hundreds of thousands of Americans volunteer to take part in medical research studies, from simple health surveys to detailed analyses of their DNA or tests of experimental medicines.

8 Jun 2008

Treating safety research like other clinical studies slows progress

Progress in patient safety research could slow to a crawl unless regulators work out a host of ethical issues, Johns Hopkins researchers assert in an upcoming opinion piece.

13 May 2008

Investigator attendance at review board reviews: hindrance or help?

Inviting researchers to attend institutional review board sessions designed to approve these same investigators' requests to conduct research involving human subjects doesn't seem to affect the efficiency of the process one way or the other, a new study led by Johns Hopkins bioethicists suggests.

11 Mar 2008

Debate over safety of gene therapy trials focuses on issue of informed consent

Can a patient who agrees to participate in a safety study of a gene therapy protocol give truly informed consent and understand the risks involved when the consent forms are highly technical and the physician or institution seeking their consent has a stake in the study and its outcome?

23 Jan 2008

Improving informed consent

New ways to make sure people are adequately informed about the risks and benefits of taking part in a clinical trial can be field-tested for effectiveness as vigorously as new medical treatments themselves, a study led by a Johns Hopkins bioethicist suggests.

15 Jan 2008

Stem-cell finding alters ethical controversy

When University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers succeeded in reprogramming skin cells to behave like embryonic stem cells, they also began to redefine the political and ethical dynamics of the stem-cell debate, a leading bioethicist says. R. Alta Charo, a UW-Madison professor of law and bioethics, says the scientific finding could have far-reaching effects on the social dimensions of the ongoing controversy over embryonic stem cell research.

21 Nov 2007

Big British problem with booze

A newly-formed group in Britain called the 'Alcohol Health Alliance' is calling for better alcohol prevention and treatment strategies to deal with the escalating alcohol problem.

14 Nov 2007

Review of controversy surrounding the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine

In an article appearing in the current issue of Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics, experts from the University of Pennsylvania Center for Bioethics and Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics review the controversy surrounding the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine debate, and its effects on ethical and public health issues.

2 Nov 2007