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The Independent Safeguarding Authority
Anyone who wishes to work with children, including even a parent who wishes to help out in the school their child attends, is required to undergo vetting by the Independent Safeguarding Authority. The politicians responsible say that this will protect children from paedophiles. Philip Pullman (children’s book author) has refused to be vetted because
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Pandemic ethics: Mild flu and Tamiflu – the patient’s dilemma
In recent days there have been reports of a jump in the number of cases of H1N1 influenza (swine flu) in the UK. There have been 29 deaths associated with pandemic influenza in the UK, and there are 652 people in hospital in England with the flu. Faced with the prospect of primary health care
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Arificial sperm: a woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle?
Professor Karim Nayernia and his team at Newcastle University produced sperm cells from embryonic stem cells (here and here)Italian newspapers ( here and here) (English ones were more restrained here) ran articles about this research claiming that in the next future men will be not necessary in human reproduction because it will be possible to
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Does self-help make you feel worse?
A study by Canadian researchers published in the latest issue of the journal Psychological Science (20:7, July 2009, 860-66), as recently reported by BBC news, discovered that people with low self-esteem paradoxically happened to feel worse after repeating a series of positive statements about themselves. The conclusions of this study are interesting, yet one might
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Pandemic Vaccination: Who to Vaccinate?
Fears of the spread of pandemic influenza in the UK continue to grow. Three apparently previously healthy patients have died here. There are now plans for widespread immunisation later in the year – though initially this is likely to be restricted to those at highest risk, and those in 'vital' professions. Who should be vaccinated?
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Refusing Cochlear Implants: Is It Child Neglect?
Australian Graeme Clark developed the cochlear implant, or bionic ear, in the 1970s. It does not amplify sound but directly stimulates any functioning auditory nerves in the inner ear. The Australian Government has promised a screening program of all babies for deafness from 2011. At present, only 70 percent children who might benefit are picked
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Hunger for long life: the ethics of caloric restriction experiments
This has been a good week for life extension research, with the Nature paper Rapamycin fed late in life extends lifespan in genetically heterogeneous mice by Harrison et al. (free News and Views) showing that the drug boosts lifespan in middle aged mice, and Science countering with Caloric Restriction Delays Disease Onset and Mortality in
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Is it Worth Living Longer?
Research recently published in Nature suggests that the drug rapamycin may have the potential to extend human life span by decades: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8139816.stm If the life is of ‘positive’ value, it might seem obvious that the drug is worth taking. But not everyone would agree. The Hellenistic philosopher Epicurus famously argued that, since it marks the
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Informed consent in the Googlesphere
Here's an interesting snippet But there's also the fact that Google is stuffed full of people who just love to experiment on its users. For instance, Google Mail uses a very slightly different blue for links than the main search page. Its engineers wondered: would that change the ratio of clickthroughs? Is there an "ideal"
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Oxford Debates Cont’d – Opposer’s Closing Statement
Part of the debate "The NHS should not treat self-inflicted illness" Opposer: Charles FosterClosing Statement The criterion 'self-inflicted' is unworkable in practice. One simply does not know in many cases whether a particular disease or injury is self-inflicted. Yes, there is ample evidence to show that smoking can cause lung cancer. But some lung cancers