IN THIS WEEK'S ISSUE
IVF pioneer turns whistleblower
"I'm not arguing that IVF is dangerous," said Lord Winston. "What I am arguing is that there isn't any form of properly informed consent." He also said that information collected by the UK's IVF regulator, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, was inadequate and that Authority itself was "remote and arrogant".
Lord Winston gave examples of several common IVF procedures which concern him. Embryo freezing may alter the behaviour of a gene that suppresses tumours. Ovary-stimulating drugs could trigger chromosomal abnormalities. And data from mouse experiments appears to show that the technique of delaying the transfer of embryos to the mother may interfere with genetic expression.
"There is now a lot of data out there to show that some procedures, under some circumstances might be quite dangerous," he said. "The reaction of the medical community was completely to pooh-pooh the data." He called for more IVF research on apes and monkeys, even if animal rights groups protested. ~ Daily Mail, Manchester Evening News, Telegraph, Sept 11 Screening for Fragile X in UK could save £10 million
"Considering that the lifetime care of each FXS patient will cost the NHS about £380,000, the most expensive strategy (population prenatal screening) is still cost-saving in the long term," says the study conducted for the NHS's health technology assessment program.
A screening program for family members in New South Wales has already proved its effectiveness, say the researchers. All unborn males with FXS and 60% of the females were aborted, bringing the prevalence of FXS in males down from 1 in 4,000 to 1 in 10,000 and restoring "reproductive confidence" to families.
The British scientists recommend that the NHS should run large-scale trials of both screening methods. Their analysis is to be considered in October by the Antenatal Screening Sub-Group of the UK National Screening Committee. Whether their proposals will be implemented is uncertain, especially in view of the fact that they treated ethical considerations as marginal.
Professor Angus Clarke, of the Institute of Medical Genetics in Cardiff criticised the report as "amoral". "It is simply not acceptable to base a decision about population screening in the antenatal clinic on a comparison between the monetary cost of care for an affected individual and the cost of population carrier screening, prenatal diagnosis, and termination of an affected pregnancy," he responded. "This is an amoral reduction of the worth of human life to mere pounds and must be vigorously repudiated." ~ BMJ, Sept 13; Health Technology Assessment 30% of mercy killers later commit suicide
Docs are tops, say patients
"The patient-physician relationship is part of the critical underpinning of stable societies," says the lead researcher, Dr Mike Magee, director of the Pfizer Medical Humanities Initiative. "In addition to diagnosis, treatment and prevention, the relationship reinforces family linkages, processes citizens' daily fears and worries, and helps reinforce long-term confidence and associated willingness to invest in the future."
Although only a small minority of patients rated doctors as authoritarian or paternalistic, doctors tended to regard themselves as more compassionate and understanding than their patients did, by a margin of 12%. ~ BMJ.com, Sept 13 Bollywood battles "boys only" bias
However melodramatic the script may be, it is a timely message in India, for the scandal of aborted girls is not mere sensationalism. Despite a 1994 ban on prenatal gender screening, it has become a thriving business. According to the Campaign Against Female Foeticide, 90% of the estimated 3.5 million abortions in India each year are of girls. As a result, census figures show that the number of girls for every thousand boys up to the age of six dropped from 945 to 927 between 1991 and 2001. In the worst- affected state of Punjab, the figure has dropped below 800.
Since 2001, the government has begun to crack down on the practice and has even confiscated 16,000 illegal ultrasound machines. Yet there are many doctors who still offer sex determination and with the advent of IVF, it is no longer necessary to resort to abortion to ensure the sex of a child. ~ Observer, Sept 7 STEM CELLS: brain pill could heal strokes
An pioneer of IVF has launched a stinging attack on fertility treatment. Lord Robert Winston, who developed pre-implantation genetic diagnosis, says that IVF patients and babies are being experimented on and that doctors are introducing new techniques without sufficient research. "Most of the patients using it do not have an inkling that there are any risks in IVF," he told Britain's largest science meeting this week.
Implementing a screening program in England and Wales for Fragile X syndrome and then aborting the babies it detects could save the National Health Service between £8 million and £10 million a year, say researchers from Birmingham University.
Fragile X syndrome (FXS) is the most common inherited disorder causing mental retardation, affecting about 1 in 4,000 males and 1 in 8,000 females. The males are normally more badly affected. The research group compared two types of screening methods -- one for the whole population and one only for family members of children with FXS. It found both "feasible and acceptable".
Thirty per cent of people who are investigated for assisting others to commit suicide later commit suicide themselves, according to the UK's Voluntary Euthanasia Society. Their deaths are caused by the trauma of what they have done and the strain of society's reaction, says the VES. It used the statistic to press for changes in laws on assisted suicide in England and Wales, which it says are the harshest in Europe. However, a government spokeswoman retorted that "our law needs to take into account the value of life and the vulnerability of individuals who are ill and in pain. That is why the law protects them. We have no plans to change the law at present." ~ Ananova, Sept 9
Throughout the world, the patient-doctor relationship ranks second in importance only to family ties, according to a study presented to the World Medical Association. It is even considered more important than relationships with spiritual advisors, financial advisors and co-workers. The study was based on telephone interviews in the US, the UK, Canada, Germany, South Africa and Japan.
Indian television is due to screen a film about the tragedy of sex selective abortion. Atmajaa: Born of the Soul is the story of a young pregnant woman whose mother-in-law and husband want her to abort the girl she is carrying. Filmed in typical soapie Bollywood style, Atmajaa includes a cast of glamorous actors who are being groomed as campaigners against sex determination. It has the backing of the Indian government and has been funded by the international development charity Plan.
Within 10 years, people may be able to repair stroke-damaged brains by popping a pill, says leading Australian stem cell scientist Professor Perry Bartlett. A cocktail of chemicals would kickstart stem cells in the brain to turn into replacement cells. No surgical injections of the stem cells would be needed. ~ Courier- Mail, Sept 11
A study in the leading journal Science which claimed last year that the popular rave drug ecstasy could lead to Parkinson's disease was based on the wrong drug, embarrassed researchers at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore revealed this week. They began to suspect their error after many attempts to replicate their findings failed. It turned out that a bottle of ecstasy from the same supplier arrived at their laboratory on the same day and in the same amount as another illegal drug. ~ New Scientist, Sept 8
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