USA – 55{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} of Louisiana Voters Want Abortions Made Illegal
USA – AmeriCorps Abortion Scandal
USA – Alabama passes Unborn Child Protection from Dismember Act
USA – Oklahoma Abortionists to be stripped of licenses
UK – Chinese Herb Eyed For Cancer and Liver Disease Treatment
Asia – Two traditional medicines unsafe to use
India: Study – Herbal antibiotics extracted from wild plants
Belgium – 24 and ready to die?
Australia -Genetic screening before IVF
USA – IVF experts divided over mosaic embryos
Australia – Horrific abuse case raises questions
Australia – Treatment disagreement gets ugly in Western Australia
USA – Concerns about womb transplants
Canada – Why should we respect conscientious objectors?
Israel – Justice Minister Mulls Criminalizing the Hiring of Prostitutes
USA – Porn and the threat to virility
UK – Sex offenders win right to read porn in jail
USA – YouTube Continues Failing to Enforce its Community Guidelines
USA – Utah declares porn a ‘public health crisis
USA – Disparities in Health Conditions among Lesbian/Bisexual Women
Israel – Justice Minister Mulls Criminalizing the Hiring of Prostitutes
South Africa – HIV pre-exposure pill a lifeline for sex workers
UK – New study examines the effect of ecstasy on the brain
USA – Simultaneous cocaine, alcohol use linked to suicide risk
Sweden – Heavy marijuana use risk for male deaths by 60
Abortion
USA – 55{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} of Louisiana Voters Want Abortions Made Illegal
Pollsters with Louisiana State University asked residents to choose whether abortion should be legal in all cases, legal in most cases, illegal in all cases or illegal in most cases. When compared to results from a Pew Research Centre poll, it appears that Louisiana residents are more pro-life than most Americans. The Pew poll found that 57 percent of Americans believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases and 40 percent believe it should be illegal in all or most cases. Gallup polling group’s 2015 survey found different results confirming that 55 percent of Americans oppose 98 percent or more of the 1.1 million abortions that take place annually in the United States.
USA – AmeriCorps Abortion Scandal
An investigation blew the lid off of a shocking new scandal involving AmeriCorps program. The “public service” arm of the federal government, created by Bill Clinton in 1993, did a tremendous disservice to taxpayers, an inspector general has found, by teaming up with the National Association of Community Health Centers to encourage, and in some cases facilitate abortions. Under the massive omnibus spending bill, Republicans gave AmeriCorps a big bump in funding — $50.6 million. The betrayal hits particularly close to home for leaders like Rep. Diane Black who have long championed the good work of these local centers and assumed they would be a natural replacement for the funding Planned Parenthood enjoyed.
http://www.frc.org/get.cfm?i=WA16D37&f=WU16D10
USA – Alabama passes Unborn Child Protection from Dismember Act
The Alabama Senate passed The Unborn Child Protection from Dismemberment Act sponsored by state Sen. Phil Williams. “We are pleased with the progress the Unborn Child Protection from Dismemberment Abortion Ban bill is making through the Alabama legislature and are hopeful it will make its way to the governor’s desk for signature,” said Mary Spaulding Balch, director of National Right to Life’s State Legislation Department.”
USA – Oklahoma Abortionists to be stripped of licenses
Bill SB 1552that landed on Gov. Mary Fallin’s desk is making headlines nationwide. SB 1552, authored by Sen. Nathan Dahm and Sen. David Brumbaugh, directs the Board of Medical Licensure and Supervision and State Board of Osteopathic Examiners to revoke the medical licenses of doctors who perform abortions. SB 1552, however, does not alter a woman’s right; it simply deals with physicians’ behaviour and those who are committed to protecting life and bringing healing who then act in a manner inconsistent with that commitment.
http://liveactionnews.org/pro-life-bill-oklahoma-strip-physicians-medical-licenses-abortions/
Alternative Medicine
UK – Chinese Herb Eyed For Cancer and Liver Disease Treatment
Compounds in a plant commonly used in traditional Chinese medicine may help treat cancer and liver disease, according to a new study. Cathie Martin, a professor at the United Kingdom’s John Innes Centre, who led the study found that the Chinese Skullcap or Scutellaria Baicalensis (Huang Qin in Chinese medicine), which has traditionally been used to treat fever as well as liver and lung conditions, contains certain compounds that can effectively combat cancer. Studies on cells cultured in the lab also found that the compounds killed human cancers, but didn’t harm healthy cells. The study was published in the journal Science Advances.
http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/2/4/e1501780.full
Asia – Two traditional medicines unsafe to use
The Health Ministry has issued a warning to not buy or use unregistered Chinese traditional medicine products known as Dong Mai Tan and Seven Leaf Ginseng as they contain poisonous substances. The National Adverse Effect Drug Monitoring unit, under the National Pharmaceutical Control Bureau, conducted sample testing on both products and the result showed that the medicines contain dexamethasone, a corticosteroid controlled under the Poison Act 1952. Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said checks on both products confirmed that the medicines were not registered with the Drugs Control Authority.
http://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2016/04/16/two-traditional-medicines-unsafe-to-use/
India – Study: Herbal antibiotics extracted from wild plants
Antibiotic like compounds can be isolated from commonlygrowing wild plants reveals research conducted by the Amity institute of biotechnology. Professor Priti Mathur conducted her research in collaboration with Dr Manodeep Sen of the Ram Manohar Lohia Institute of Medical Sciences and Sanjeev Kanojiya of the Central Drug Research Institute. “We conducted research on eleven plants and found antibiotic characterization in all of them. Of these eleven, we would conduct further experiments on three plants, Datura, Bhang and Chirayata, which have shown high antibiotic characteristics,’ said Mathur. This is the same thing they are doing with marijuana, isolating compounds and identifying which can be used for medicinal purpose.
Euthanasia
Belgium – 24 and ready to die?
When Emily, 24, obtained permission to be euthanized from a team of three doctors and psychiatrists, the whole idea was that her condition would not and could not improve, and that no treatment whatsoever was available that would rid her of her mental illness, or give her even the slightest hope. Now the fact that she was facing death certainly triggered something in her mind, helping her to find reasons to live. If that means anything, it shows that her despair was not so deep-rooted as to be utterly beyond help.
IVF&Surrogacy
Australia -Genetic screening before IVF
Julian Savulescu has called on the Australian government to subsidise preimplantation genetic diagnosis, arguing that genetic screening is in the interests both of children and of future generations. The argument advances his general bioethical theory of procreative beneficence, the view that parents have an ethical duty wherever possible to bring into existence healthy children. “These arguments suggest much more funding should be put into IVF and genetic selection to avoid serious disease but they also extend to other non-disease traits. It is better if people have talents and gifts, are happy, co-operative, empathetic, altruistic and so on… Genetic selection should be supported to have children who will have better lives, not merely healthier lives. It ought to be a priority.”
USA – IVF experts divided over mosaic embryos
Debate is intensifying among fertility specialists about the use of mosaic embryos in IVF.Mosaic embryos – embryos that are characterized by irregular numbers or arrangements of chromosomes in some cells – have typically not been used by fertility specialists (at least in the US) due to the likelihood that any resulting foetus will suffer from genetic disorders.Dr. Norbert Gleicher, the director of the Centre for Human Reproduction in New York, recently tested Preimplantation Genetic Screening by transferring seemingly abnormal embryos into women seeking IVF. Gleicher has reported four normal pregnancies since he began his test.
http://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/ivf-experts-divided-over-mosaic-embryos/11841#sthash.l8Fui0wh.dpuf
Australia – Horrific abuse case raises questions
An Australian case of sexual exploitation of infants has raised questions about international surrogacy. An unnamed 49-year-old man in rural Victoria has pleaded guilty to abusing not only two young nieces, but twins whom he fathered with the help of a donated egg from a woman in Ukraine at an IVF clinic in Asia.His abuse of his daughters began when they were 27 days old and continued for seven months. Amongst the 13,000 images and videos in his possession when he was arrested were 300 of his own daughters.
Medical Ethics
Australia – Treatment disagreement gets ugly in Western Australia
The parents of a six-year-old boy have spoken of their distress after a hospital obtained a court order to force chemotherapy on their child.The parents of Oshin Kiszko, who was diagnosed with advanced brain cancer, believe their son should not have to undergo chemotherapy, as it is not worth the suffering and risks. Instead they asked for palliative care.Yet a Family Court ratified the decision of the Princess Margaret Hospitalethics committee to enforce the treatment.Australian Medical Association WA president Michael Gannon defended the hospital: “This is rare, extremely unusual and would weigh heavily on the individual clinicians involved,” he told a local radio station. “It is something they would almost certainly discuss with their colleagues.”
http://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/treatment-disagreement-gets-ugly-in-western-australia/11839
USA – Concerns about womb transplants
A participant of an American trial had to have her recently transplanted womb removed due to a common uterine infection unrelated to the operation.Still, some have used the failed operation to question the research. However, group of researchers from Australia’s Macquarie University had discussed ethical problems surrounding the practice, noting a certain inconsistency that would result from denying womb transplants to infertile women:“Where a woman does not have a functioning uterus, it is far from clear how we might legitimately encourage use of a surrogate (with all its attendant difficulties) but withhold the opportunity to employ an (in principle) established surgical technique – namely, organ transplantation – in order to allow her to achieve a pregnancy ‘of her own’.”
http://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/nascent-concerns-about-womb-transplants/11840
Canada – Why should we respect conscientious objectors?
As the Canadian parliament drafts a law to implement assisted suicide and euthanasia some doctors fear they will be forced to perform the procedures or refer patients. But do doctors have a right to appeal to their “moral conscience”. Professor Udo Schuklenk of Queen’s University Ontario contendsin the Journal of Medical Ethics that, “Forcing patients to live by the conscientious objectors’ values constitutes an unacceptable infringement on the rights of patients.” But Dr Nancy Naylor declared in the Canadian Family Physician:”I refuse to let anyone or any organization dictate my moral code. I have no wish to stop. (But) For this reason I am not renewing my license to practice medicine.
http://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/why-should-we-respect-conscientious-objectors/11848
Pedophilia
Israel – Justice Minister Mulls Criminalizing the Hiring of Prostitutes
Ayelet Shaked has formed a committee to examine other European countries’ approach. The committee will also study international models of criminalization of prostitution consumers, including the new French law. The new bill would make every woman working in prostitution or has left prostitution eligible to receive assistance from welfare services, including assured income and pocket money in the rehabilitation stage, assistance with employment, rent, household supplies, supplemental education, medical or psychosocial aid, legal aid, and assistance in strengthening her relationship with her children. The Mitos (The Day after Prostitution) NGO estimates the number to be about 300,000, with payments from consumers totaling NIS 1.2 billion per year.
http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.714841
Pornography
USA – Porn and the threat to virility
Porn has always faced criticism but for the first time it is coming from porn customers. Users explain the effect of porn addiction on them. Apart from the apparent sexual dysfunction it causes, it also degrades women and normalises sexual aggression. Compelling new research on visual stimuli offers support to the young men’s theories, suggesting the combination of computer access, sexual pleasures and the brain’s mechanisms for learning could make online porn acutely habit forming, with potential psychological effects. Pornhub video-sharing site, says it gets 2.4 million visitors per hour and that in 2015 alone, people around the globe watched 4 392 486 580 hours of its content.
Time magazine , April 18, 2016
UK – Sex offenders win right to read porn in jail
Some of Britain’s most dangerous sex offenders in Glenochiljail in Scotland are to be allowed access to porn for the first time in a deal with prison governors. Sandy Brindley, National Co-ordinator of Rape Crisis Scotland, expressed her concern as many of the messages in pornography reinforce the idea that women are permanently sexually available and say, ‘No’ when they mean ‘Yes’. She suggested that sex offenders need access to programmes which reinforce the importance of consent. The reason given for this move is that these magazines are available to the public and to deny them to prisoners could turn into a human rights issue.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/dangerous-sex-offenders-win-right-7774502
USA – YouTube Continues Failing to Enforce its Community Guidelines
YouTube, for the second consecutive year, has been included on the National Centre on Sexual Exploitation’s annual Dirty Dozen List for the original reason: failing to eliminate sexually explicit and pornographic content, both soft-core and hard-core, in posted videos. While YouTube’s Community Guidelines clearly delineate that it prohibits nudity, pornography, and other sexually explicit content, they make little effort to monitor and remove videos that violate its guidelines. Worse still, YouTube facilitates viewing of such material among those not even searching for it because inappropriate content can appear as “recommended” viewing or “up next” videos on the right side of a user’s screen. For children in particular, this presents a great risk.
http://endsexualexploitation.org/articles/youtube-makes-reappearance-dirty-dozen-list/
USA – Utah declares porn a ‘public health crisis
The state of Utah has become the first state in the nation to declare that pornography is creating a “public health crisis.”Governor Gary Herbert signed a non-binding resolution, SCR 9, which recognizes porn can impact brain development, increase risky sexual behaviour, and lead to sexual addiction. According to Gov Herbert they are sounding a voice of warning, because there are real health risks that are involved with viewing pornography.”Numerous studies have now connected pornography use to lower mental health outcomes, lower relationship well-being, and detrimental expectations and beliefs about sex and sexual intimacy, according to Dr. Brian Willoughby, a professor of family life at Brigham Young University.
Same Sex Attraction
USA – Disparities in Health Conditions among Lesbian/Bisexual Women
USA Department of Psychology at the University of Washington, Montana and California conducted a systematic review to assess evidence for disparities for lesbian and bisexual women, in comparison with heterosexual women across a range of nine physical health conditions. Almost every comparison (i.e., heterosexual vs. lesbian, bisexual,) indicated disparities. Evidence of disparities that were statistically significant were; adjusted ratios for asthma (5 of 7 comparisons), obesity (8 of 12), arthritis (2 of 3), global ratings of physical health (4 of 7), and cardiovascular disease (1 of 1). Evidence was lacking for cancer (1 of 4), diabetes and hypertension (both 1 of 5), and high cholesterol (0 of 3).
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/00918369.2016.1174021
Sexual Exploitation
Israel – Justice Minister Mulls Criminalizing the Hiring of Prostitutes
Ayelet Shaked has formed a committee to examine other European countries’ approach. The committee will also study international models of criminalization of prostitution consumers, including the new French law. The new bill would make every woman working in prostitution or has left prostitution eligible to receive assistance from welfare services, including assured income and pocket money in the rehabilitation stage, assistance with employment, rent, household supplies, supplemental education, medical or psychosocial aid, legal aid, and assistance in strengthening her relationship with her children. The Mitos (The Day After Prostitution) NGO estimates the number to be about 300,000, with payments from consumers totaling NIS 1.2 billion per year.
http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.714841
South Africa – HIV pre-exposure pill a lifeline for sex workers
The Health department is expected to announce that it will provide antiretrovirals to thousands of HIV-negative sex workers in a bid to keep them HIV free. This is expected to make South Africa one of the first countries worldwide to bring the latest HIV prevention science to those who need it most. The department and the South African National AIDS Council (SANAC) say that at least 3 000 HIV-negative sex workers will be eligible to begin taking combination antiretroviral (ARV) Truvada in order to prevent contracting HIV. Truvada combines the ARVs emtricitabine and tenofovir. When taken daily this treatment has been shown to reduce the risk of HIV infection by about 90 percent.
http://www.iol.co.za/lifestyle/hiv-pre-exposure-pill-a-lifeline-for-sex-workers-1996355
Substance Abuse
UK – New study examines the effect of ecstasy on the brain
Dr Carl Roberts and Dr Andrew Jones, from the University’s Institute of Psychology, Health and Society, and Dr Cathy Montgomery from Liverpool John Moore’s University conducted an analysis of seven independent studies that used molecular imaging to examine the neuropsychological effect of ecstasy on people that use the drug regularly.They found that ecstasy users showed significant reductions in the way serotonin is transported in the brain. This can have a particular impact on regulating appropriate emotional reactions to situations.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/04/160418095916.htm
USA – Simultaneous cocaine, alcohol use linked to suicide risk
A new study of hundreds of emergency department visits finds that the links between substance misuse and suicide risk are complex, but that use of cocaine and alcohol together was particularly significant.Led by Sarah Arias, assistant professor (research) of psychiatry and human behaviour in the Alpert Medical School of Brown University, the team examined 874 men and women who presented at one of eight emergency departments around the country between 2010 and 2012. The patients were participants in the Emergency Department Safety Assessment and Follow-up Evaluation study, led by the University of Massachusetts Medical School.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/04/160408101936.htm
Sweden – Heavy marijuana use risk for male deaths by 60
Swedish researchers analysed the records of more than 45,000 men beginning in 1969 and 1970. The scientists from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm reported that 4,000 died during the 42-year follow-up period, and men who’d used marijuana heavily at ages 18 and 19 were 40{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} more likely to die by age 60 compared to men who hadn’t used the drug. The study was published in the American Journal of Psychiatry. “This study was longer and participants might have reached an age where thelong-term effects of cannabis were taking a toll on health,” said addiction expert Scott Krakower, an assistant unit chief of psychiatry at Zucker Hillside Hospital, in New Hyde Park, NY.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/heavy-teen-marijuana-use-may-cut-life-short-by-60/
Disclaimer: the views and opinions expressed in these articles do not necessarily reflect those of Doctors for Life International
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