Tissue from more than 100 second trimester foetuses is picked over annually and distributed to Australian researchers by the Diabetes Transplant Unit (DTU) in Sydney, writes Dr Bernie Tuch in the Medical Journal of Australia. Dr Tuch argues that human foetal tissue is a "scarce resource" and that the benefits of research with it deserve more recognition. Experiments using aborted foetal tissue for growing organs and for stem cell research could even begin again in the near future. However, he complains that his work could be hampered by red tape which may be required to use tissue from foetuses aborted before eight weeks.
In a review of the field in Australia between 1994 and 2002, Dr Tuch and colleagues reveal that aborted foetal tissue has been used by 19 researchers at four universities, six major teaching hospitals and two research institutes. About 265 samples are distributed annually by the DTU, with each foetus yielding three tissue samples. The most commonly used tissues come from the eyes, bone and cartilage, brain and spinal cord, kidneys and the pancreas. An index of their usefulness, says the article, is that 74 publications in international peer-reviewed journals have relied on aborted foetal tissue.
The age of most of the foetuses is between 14 and 18 weeks. According to 1983 NHMRC guidelines, foetuses must be less than 20 weeks, as there is a remote chance of survival after this time. The tissue has been used for feeder cells for growing human embryonic stem cells, for drug testing and for studying tissue development, viruses and diabetes.
Dr Tuch complains that the media has taken little notice of research on aborted foetal tissue, even though he outlined what was happening in an MJA article in 1993. His most recent attempt to raise public awareness may have fallen on deaf ears as well, as the media seized upon articles dealing with IVF and smoking in the current MJA and largely overlooked his current contribution. ~ MJA, Nov 17
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Tissue from more than 100 second trimester foetuses is picked over annually and distributed to Australian researchers by the Diabetes Transplant Unit (DTU) in Sydney, writes Dr Bernie Tuch in the Medical Journal of Australia. Dr Tuch argues that human foetal tissue is a "scarce resource" and that the benefits of research with it deserve more recognition. Experiments using aborted foetal tissue for growing organs and for stem cell research could even begin again in the near future. However, he complains that his work could be hampered by red tape which may be required to use tissue from foetuses aborted before eight weeks.
A jar of Vegemite, a bottle of sauce and some carbon monoxide are all you need to kill yourself. This is the latest message from assisted suicide activist Dr Philip Nitschke. His contraption, nicknamed the "CO Genie", can be built for around A$52. Dr Nitschke says that 200 people across Australia have booked in for his workshops on how to build it. He denied that promoting his device was irresponsible and that young people will use it. "We will endeavour to ensure that the only people who come and take part in these workshops are people that have a good reason to, and this will be elderly Australians," he said. "But will the technology slip out? Look, it's not rocket science. Anyone who has done high school chemistry can build one of these machines." ~ Courier-Mail (Brisbane), Nov 17 
The US President's Council on Bioethics wants to rein in the American IVF industry. Although the members of the Council do not agree on the ethics of IVF, they have managed to reach a consensus on several practical measures in a discussion paper. If adopted, these would force the IVF industry to disclose more about its practices and impose "interim prophylactic measures". Amongst the procedures which could be restricted or banned are animal-human hybrid embryos, the creation of embryos with genetic material from more than two parents and possibly surrogate motherhood.
Six out of every 10 patients at one of Australia's leading IVF clinics are using pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) to select the sex of an embryo rather than to test it for a medical condition. The Daily Telegraph reports that the number of parents using PGD for sex selection has increased four-fold in three years. More than 250 couples have had sex selection done at Sydney IVF since 1995, with 120 of them in 2002. About one-third resulted in a pregnancy. Details of the procedure are outlined on the clinic's website.
The first study of the feasibility and ethics of face transplants has concluded that the risks of the operation outweigh the benefits -- for the time being. The UK's Royal College of Surgeons says that the procedure would be quite hazardous, with one in ten face grafts failing within a year and as many as half failing in the long-term. Because patients would need high doses of immunosuppressant drugs, there would also be a risk of diabetes, infections and cancer. Other critics say that patients might have psychological problems after surgery since facial expressions are such an important part of our identity.
Psychiatrists cannot be forced to act against their conscience, the House of Lords has ruled in the UK. The judgement came after tribunal granted a patient with paranoid psychosis a provisional discharge from a mental asylum provided that a psychiatrist supervised his treatment in the community. Local psychiatrists contended that his discharge was "clinically inappropriate and unsafe". The patient claimed that his right to liberty was being breached, but the House of Lord said that health authorities have no right to compel psychiatrists to act against their conscientious professional judgement. ~ BMJ, Nov 22