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Abortion UK – Abortion doctors may consult via Skype Alternative Medicine South Africa – State to oppose alternative medicine court action Euthanasia Belgium – Five killed in Belgium Every Day as euthanasia soarsSwitzerland – Group to allow assisted dying for not terminally ill elderlyUSA – More patients participating in Washington assisted suicide program HIV/AIDS No news today Homosexuality West Indies – AIDS expert fired for testifying on the harm of homosexualityAustralia – Relationship problems a leading cause of homosexual suicides UK – Psychiatrists in climb-down on ‘born gay’ claimUSA – Texas favors ‘reparative therapy’ for homosexuals IVF & Surrogacy No news today Medical Ethics USA – Should doctors take part in executions?USA – The ethics of preimplantation diagnosisUK – Top employment strategies for discouraging conscientious objectionIsrael – Should we allow organ transplants from HIV positive donors? Pedophilia No news today Pornography USA – Many countries still do not consider child porn a crime Prostitution &Trafficking South Africa – Child prostitute says punish my pimp Stem Cells & Cloning No news today Substance Abuse South Africa – Call to suspend all dagga prosecutionsUSA – Pot patients don’t know what they’re gettingUSA – National study links marijuana use to adverse effectsGhana – Marijuana may affect fertility in young men

  Abortion   UK – Abortion doctors may consult via Skype Doctors will be able to give an opinion by Skype or telephone on whether a woman is eligible for a government funded abortion. New Department of Health guidance states clearly that UK law does not require either of the two doctors who must approve an abortion to have a face-to-face interview with a woman. They must consider her case, but are not required to have personal contact with her. Josephine Quintavalle, of Comment on Reproductive Ethics, was scathing about the new guidance: “A telephone consultation to ensure authorization – presumably with a pro-choice doctor – completely ignores the life-taking nature of abortion, makes a complete mockery of the original Act and would surely not be tolerated in any other branch of medicine.” http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10993   Alternative Medicine   South Africa – State to oppose alternative medicine court action Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi has been served with legal papers that seek to prove that alternative medicine is safe but a Health Department spokesman said they will oppose the matter. The Health Products Association of SA approached the High Court in Pretoria about new government regulations which they said could wipe 60 percent of products off the shelf. However, Mandisa Hela, registrar at the medicine controls council, told the newspaper that if the market was unregulated, it made it “possible to market unsafe products or products of doubtful efficacy”. Certain products labels did not disclose “unsafe” substances such as yohimbine, teas containing cocaine, and slimming products with dangerous levels of scheduled ingredients. http://www.sowetanlive.co.za/news/2014/05/26/aaron-motsoaledi-served-with-legal-papers-about-alternative-medicine       Euthanasia   Belgium – Five killed in Belgium Every Day as euthanasia soars Figures published in Sudpresse, Belgium’s leading French-speaking newspaper, showed that 1,816 cases of euthanasia were reported in 2013 compared to 1,432 in 2012, an overall increase of 26.8 per cent. ‘You could say that currently there are 150 cases of euthanasia per month in Belgium or, even more telling, five people euthanized a day,’ the newspaper said. Of the total number of cases in 2013, 51.7 per cent were male patients and 48.3 per cent were female. Anti-euthanasia campaigners have argued that safeguards have consistently proved to be meaningless. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2641773/Five-people-killed-EVERY-DAY-assisted-suicide-Belgium-euthanasia-cases-soar-27-cent-year-alone.html   Switzerland – Group to allow assisted dying for not terminally ill elderly A Swiss organisation that helps people take their own lives has voted to extend its services to elderly people who are not terminally ill. Exit added “suicide due to old age” to their statutes at an annual general meeting held over the weekend, allowing people suffering from psychological or physical problems associated with old age to end their life. The move has been criticised by the Swiss Medical Association amid fears it will encourage suicide among the elderly. http://newsok.com/swiss-group-to-allow-assisted-dying-for-elderly-who-are-not-terminally-ill/article/4851326   USA – More patients participating in Washington assisted suicide program The Washington state Department of Health in their annual report shows about 175 people were given lethal doses of medication between January 1 to December 31 in 2013. Participation rose by 43 percent in 2013 from 2012. The 173 prescriptions were written by 89 different physicians and were dispensed by 23 different pharmacists. Those who died after receiving the lethal medications were between the ages of 29 and 95. Following the trend in previous years, many of the patients listed their concern over the loss of independence as the reason for participating. http://www.keprtv.com/news/local/More-patients-participating-in-Washington-assisted-suicide-program-261895601.html       HIV/AIDS & STI’s   No news today       Homosexuality   West Indies – AIDS expert fired for testifying on the harm of homosexuality Professor Brendan Bain, who served as director of the regional coordinating unit of the Caribbean HIV/AIDS Regional Training Network (CHART) at the University of the West Indies in Jamaica, was fired after homosexual activist groups demanded he be removed from his job because of testimony he gave in 2010 in defense of Belize’s sodomy ban. My responsibility as a Public Health practitioner is to assess the cost of behavior, not just to the individual ‘actor,’ but also to the community,” Bain wrote. Bain argued that one such behavior is anal intercourse, which significantly increases the risk not only of HIV/AIDS, but other sexually transmitted diseases and cancer. http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/university-fires-aids-expert-for-testifying-homosexuality-is-bad-for-public/   Australia – Relationship problems a leading cause of homosexual suicides Dr. Delaney Skerrett led a team of researchers from the Australian Institute for Suicide Research and Prevention  in studying suicides in Queensland. He found that a leading cause of suicide among “lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex” (LGBTI) people is stress from their romantic partners. “We tend to assume that the psychological distress LGBTI people are often going through is due to family rejection. But it seems that’s not so much the case. The conflict seems to be largely related to relationship problems, with partners,” Dr. Skerrett said. In fact, “The numbers are telling us there’s a general acceptance at the family level.” http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/homosexuals-more-likely-to-commit-suicide-due-to-problems-with-gay-lovers-t   UK – Psychiatrists in climb-down on ‘born gay’ claim In a dramatic policy change, the Royal College of Psychiatrists has altered its position on the nature of same-sex attraction. It now believes that same-sex attraction is not fully determined at birth. According to a new position statement, issued quietly, the Royal College now believes that sexual orientation is “determined by a combination of biological and postnatal environmental factors”. It also rejects the notion that sexual orientation is unchangeable, saying that “it is not the case sexual orientation is immutable”. Instead it recognizes that sexual orientation may vary during someone’s life. http://us2.campaign-archive1.com/?u=bed173cc9adfcad1e0e442a35&id=cbf1acb3e2&e=134f1da7d9   USA – Texas favors ‘reparative therapy’ for homosexuals Texas Republicans have adopted a party platform that includes support for voluntary psychological “therapy” for homosexuals who want to be heterosexual. The measure states that “We recognize the legitimacy and efficacy of counseling, which offers reparative therapy and treatment for those patients seeking healing and wholeness from their homosexual lifestyle. No laws or executive orders shall be imposed to limit or restrict access to this type of therapy.” Spearheading the endorsement is Cathie Adams, president of the conservative Texas Eagle Forum. She stressed that the measure calls for allowing people to choose the treatment. “Nothing is mandatory,” wrote Adams. “If a person chooses counseling, then it should be made available. It’s a freedom issue.” http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/08/us/texas-gop-gay-therapy?sp=fb060914texas1pvodtoplink       IVF &Surrogacy   No news today       Medical Ethics   USA – Should doctors take part in executions? It is unethical for American physicians to participate in executions, according to a commentary in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Robert D. Truog, a bioethicist, I. Glenn Cohen, a law professor, and Mark A. Rockoff, a doctor, all of Harvard University, assert forcefully that “Regardless of whether execution is justified … it must never be perceived as a medical procedure.” The Harvard academics were responding to a study by the Death Penalty Committee of The Constitution Project, a group of eminent lawyers who oppose capital punishment. Recommendation 39 was that doctors should be involved in those executions which do happen in order to ensure that they are humane as possible – even if medical associations object. http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10980   USA – The ethics of preimplantation diagnosis An article in the Journal of Medical Ethics argues for a novel, preference based assessment of Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD). Bioethicist Tomasz Żuradzki asserts there are situations where couples have a moral obligation to request PGD, “no matter what moral doctrine [they] subscribe to”. He imagines a situation where embryos have already been prepared for implantation. He departs from the traditional argument of future benefits for the baby to be born; and argues from the perspective of the ‘hypothetical preferences’ of the embryos. We must assume the embryos are rational, and that they would chose to be screened for genetic predispositions. Parents must honour these preferences of embryos, for “we should respect the hypothetical choices of rational agents.” http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10977   UK – Top employment strategies for discouraging conscientious objection In a Journal of Medical Ethics article, bioethicist Francesca Minerva argues for limiting the number of conscientious objectors in Italian hospitals. She asserts that conscientious objection “prevents access to certain treatments”, and proposes to set up disincentives for objectors in hospitals such as offering higher salaries for non-objectors and establishing ‘conscientious objector quotas’. In response, Oxford ethicist and theologian Roger Trigg argues that conscientious objection is a necessary part of the practice of medicine: “Once we discount conscientious moral reasoning, medicine is reduced to a technical issue about procedures, without any regard to their effect on the greater human good.” Regarding abortion, he suggests that high rates of conscientious objection might indicate a need to reconsider the original policy. http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10989   Israel – Should we allow organ transplants from HIV positive donors? In a controversial article in the Journal of Medical Ethics three Israeli bioethicists from leading academies in Israel, argue there are times when it would be ethically permissible for doctors to transplant organs from HIV positive individuals to uninfected recipients. “If the potential recipient demonstrates full awareness of the risks of receiving an organ from an HIV-positive donor, he or she has the right via the principle of autonomy to accept those risks along with the potential life-saving benefits… to deny patients the right to take on the risk of HIV, when transplantation is the best and often the only recourse available to them, would then be a unique limit on autonomy.” http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/11006       Pedophilia   No news today       Pornography   USA – Many countries still do not consider child porn a crime During the past seven years a 100 countries have enacted new laws to protect children from child pornography. However, according to the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC), 53 countries still have no law and do not consider child pornography a crime. The number of countries deemed to have sufficient law has climbed from 27 in 2006 to 69 in 2012. Yet, 53 countries still have no law at all that specifically criminalizes child pornography. “The problem of child pornography is widely misunderstood,” said Ernie Allen, President and CEO of ICMEC. “These are crime scene photos, images of a child being sexually abused. Every time these images are traded, distributed or downloaded, the child in the photo is re-victimized. http://www.icmec.org/missingkids/servlet/NewsEventServlet?LanguageCountry=en_X1&PageId=4877       Prostitution & Trafficking   South Africa – Child prostitute says punish my pimp A schoolgirl, who started prostituting herself at 13-years-old for R50 per sexual encounter, said she wanted to see nothing more than her pimp punished. “I am still angry with him. I will never forget what he did [to me] even when I sleep. I would truly like for him to be punished for that”.  She was responding to a question in court about whether she was angry at, the man who allegedly operated a prostitution ring out of Durban’s Inn Town Lodge. Zweni, Dr Genchen Rugnath, Rugnath’s wife Ravina, Nonduzo Dlamini, and Bhabha Dubazini are accused of running a brothel using girls as young as 12. They have pleaded not guilty to 156 charges, including assault, rape, sexual exploitation of a child, and racketeering. http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/Child-prostitute-Punish-my-pimp-20140530       Stem Cells & Cloning   No news today       Substance Abuse   South Africa – Call to suspend all dagga prosecutions The Western Cape High Court is to decide on an application to stay the prosecutions of people facing dagga-related charges. The applicant, Jeremy Acton, leader of the Dagga Party of SA, was in court when Judge Nolwazi Boqwana heard argument on Friday. Acton asked that the court order a temporary halt to the prosecution of people across the country facing charges over dagga possession or dealing pending the outcome of a legal challenge against the legislation that criminalises dagga. Thomas Bokaba, SC, for the Directorate of Public Prosecutions, argued that the effect of such a “far-reaching” order would be the “decriminalisation” of dagga. http://www.iol.co.za/news/crime-courts/call-to-suspend-all-dagga-prosecutions-1.1693751#.U6qbC9KSzmU   USA – Pot patients don’t know what they’re getting Testing shows that marijuana strains are not what they purport to be in name, chemical content and genetics. Jessica Tonani, CEO of Verda Bio, a small Seattle biotech company, is researching the consistency and variety in so-called ‘medical-marijuana’ strains. One popular strain widely known for its high-Canabanoids (CBD) is called Harlequin. But when Tonani and a leading Seattle lab analyzed 22 samples from various growers and dispensaries, five of them were high in THC and had virtually no CBD. This means people trying to take ‘medicine’ were just getting high instead, perhaps during work time or behind the wheel. “You don’t want a 6-year-old with epilepsy being put on a bus under the influence of a psychedelic chemical,” Tonani said. http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2023759490_pottestingxml.html   USA – National study links marijuana use to adverse effects An analysis of studies on the effects of marijuana use published in the New England Journal of Medicine establishes that the drug can reduce teens’ IQ, impairs driving, and that today’s version is more potent than in the past. The review, authored by scientists from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), links the drug to several significant adverse effects including addiction. Research shows that marijuana impairs critical thinking and memory functions during use and that these deficits persist for days after using. “Physicians in particular can play a role in conveying to families that early marijuana use can interfere with crucial social and developmental milestones and can impair cognitive development,” said lead author and NIDA Director Dr. Nora Volkow. http://www.themorningsun.com/general-news/20140604/national-study-links-marijuana-use-to-adverse-effects   Ghana – Marijuana may affect fertility in young men If you’re a cannabis user and you’re trying for a baby … stop.” This advice comes from Dr. Allan Pacey, senior lecturer in andrology at the University of Sheffield in the United Kingdom and lead author of a new study that suggests using marijuana could increase a man’s risk of fertility problems. The study, published in the journal Human Reproduction, looked at how a man’s lifestyle affects his sperm morphology: the size and shape of sperm. Researchers collected data from 1,970 men who provided semen as part of a fertility assessment. http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/health/artikel.php?ID=312079       Disclaimer: the views and opinions expressed in these articles do not necessarily reflect those of Doctors for Life International]]>

Abortion UK – Ireland women not entitled to free NHS abortions in EnglandUSA – Missouri lawmakers approve 72-hour waiting periodUSA – With New Bill, Abortion Limits Spread in South Alternative Medicine South Africa – Herbal remedies can be toxic: researcher Euthanasia UK – TV personalities agree to assisted death pactBelgium – Belgian doctor shows where the slippery slope ends HIV/AIDS No news today Homosexuality USA – Syphilis Cases Climbing Among homosexual menUSA – Conversion therapy bans stall across the nationUSA – Judge to be impeached after homosexual marriage ruling South Africa – Lifting of ban on homosexuals donating blood IVF & Surrogacy USA – Older infertile couples should try in vitro fertilization first Medical Ethics UK – Concern over new medical experimentation billUK – Conscientious objectors barred from qualification in UK Pedophilia Germany – Pedophile brains ‘abnormally tuned to children’ Pornography USA – Porn magazines to be banned from military basesUSA – The truth about the porn industryUSA – Porn is a public health issue Prostitution &Trafficking Canada – Use provincial laws to fight prostitution Stem Cells & Cloning USA – Controversy over cardiac stem cells could sink “heart failure cure”USA –  bioethics commission calls for ethics education in neuroscience Substance Abuse USA – Synthetic Marijuana Hospitalizes 45 in TexasUSA – Recreational Marijuana May Be Linked To Brain ChangesUSA – WHO says alcohol killed 3.3 million in 2012 USA – Marijuana Legalization In States Making Waves At UN

Abortion

UK – Ireland women not entitled to free NHS abortions in England

Women from Northern Ireland are not legally entitled to free abortions on the NHS in England, the High Court in London has ruled. The case was brought by a 15-year-old girl and her mother who live in Northern Ireland. Unlike the rest of the UK, abortion is only allowed in very restricted circumstances in Northern Ireland. More than 1,000 women each year travel from NI to have an abortion in other parts of the UK. Because Northern Ireland is not covered by the 1967 Abortion Act, which applies in the rest of the UK, the judge, Mr Justice King, has ruled this was not a discrimination issue.

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-27325363

USA – Missouri lawmakers approve 72-hour waiting period

Missouri’s Legislature gave final approval Wednesday to legislation requiring a woman to wait three days after first seeing a doctor before having an abortion. The measure would triple Missouri’s current 24-hour waiting period and put the state in line with Utah and South Dakota as the only states to mandate a 72-hour time frame. The House voted 111-39 in favour of the measure Wednesday. Under both current law and the new legislation, Missouri’s abortion waiting period doesn’t apply in instances deemed by a doctor to be a medical emergency. But women do have to wait in cases of rape and incest.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/05/15/missouri-lawmakers-pass-3-day-abortion-wait-period/

USA – With New Bill, Abortion Limits Spread in South

The Louisiana State Legislature has passed a bill that could force three of the state’s five abortion clinics to close, echoing rules passed in Alabama, Mississippi and Texas, and raising the possibility of drastically reduced access to abortion across a broad stretch of the South. The new rules passed by Republican legislatures require that doctors performing abortions must have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals. Abortion providers and many medical experts call the requirement a thinly disguised effort to shut down clinics and undermine the right to abortion under Roe v. Wade. The Louisiana House of Representatives passed the legislation by an 88-to-5 vote. The bill passed the State Senate last week.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/22/us/politics/new-bill-spreads-abortion-limits-in-south.html?hpw&rref=us&_r=0

Alternative Medicine

South Africa – Herbal remedies can be toxic: researcher

A researcher has revealed that some herbal remedies can contain very toxic elements. “The toxic constituents are capable of causing adverse health effects when consumed, for instance, there are some plant species that contain cardiac glycosides that causes heart problems in humans,” says Salmon Adebayo, a Doctoral Degree candidate at the Tshwane University of Technology. A Ugandan study published in the online journal Plos One, found that “traditional herbal medicine use was independently associated with a substantial increase in significant liver fibrosis in both HIV-infected and HIV-uninfected study participants.” Adebayo’s presentation revealed that more than 80{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} of South Africans use herbal remedies for their primary healthcare needs.

http://www.timeslive.co.za/lifestyle/2014/05/12/herbal-remedies-can-be-toxic-researcher

Euthanasia

UK – TV personalities agree to assisted death pact

Two TV personalities Judy Finnigan and husband Richard Madeley have said they have agreed to an assisted death pact should one of them fall seriously ill. This, even though these headline-grabbing comments go against advice of organizations like the World Health Organisation, which says that discussions about suicide and assisted suicide need to be handled very carefully, to prevent taking your own life or helping someone to die appear normal. Changing the law so you can kill a loved one, or be killed would put many vulnerable people at risk who might be pressured into ending their life, because they might feel that they had become either a care or financial burden.

http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-27371266

Belgium – Belgian doctor shows where the slippery slope ends

Dr Wim Distelmans, is organizing an instructional tour to Auschwitz, the Nazi extermination camp in October, according to him, an ‘inspiring’ surrounding in which to ‘clarify confusion about euthanasia’. What it does show is how little distance there is between Belgian euthanasia in 2014 and Nazi death camps in 1944. Linking the right to die and the Nazis is a no-no in most circles. In fact, they lost their arguments as soon as they mention the word “Nazi”. Dr Kevin Fitzpatrick the Director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition Europe and a leader of Not Dead Yet UK, and Dr Tom Mortier, replied, ‘we have never, ever, linked him to the atrocities, the inhumanity, and the repellent euphemisms of the Nazi era. He has done this all by himself.’

http://www.mercatornet.com/careful/view/14082

HIV/AIDS & STI’s

No news today

Homosexuality

USA – Syphilis Cases Climbing Among homosexual men

Cases of the sexually transmitted disease, once almost eliminated in the United States, have more than doubled among men who have sex with men (msm) since the year 2000, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “We are very concerned about what we consider this rising epidemic of syphilis among msm,” said Dr. Gail Bolan, director of the CDC’s division of STD prevention. “This is a consistent, disturbing trend.” In 2000, the year with the fewest cases of syphilis, there were 6,000 cases nationwide. In 2013, there were more than 16,000 cases of syphilis, 91 percent of these in men. “We haven’t seen case numbers like that since back in the ’90s,” Bolan said.

http://www.webmd.com/sexual-conditions/news/20140509/syphilis-cases-climbing-among-gay-men-cdc

USA – Conversion therapy bans stall across the nation

A movement to ban the controversial practice of “conversion therapy” that counsels homosexual children and teens on how to become straight is meeting with unexpected problems. Christopher Doyle, a licensed clinical professional counselor who supports sexual orientation change efforts, said the bills were losing because of coordinated efforts by ex-gays. They are also arguing that there can’t be a scientific basis for the claim that the therapy is harmful to children since “there is actually not one study” on sexual orientation change efforts and the impact on minors, Mr. Doyle said.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/may/4/gay-conversion-therapy-bans-stall-across-the-natio/

USA – Judge to be impeached after homosexual marriage ruling

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee a former presidential candidate and staunch social conservative, called on the state’s current governor, Mike Beebe (D), to call a special session of the state legislature to remove Judge Christopher Piazza from office who struck down the homosexual marriage ban that he signed into law 17 years ago. ” Huckabee asserted, Piazza “decided that he is singularly more powerful than the 135 elected legislators of the state, the elected Governor, and 75 percent of the voters of the state. Huckabee also blasted Piazza for issuing his ruling after the close of business Friday, which made “it impossible for the attorney general or other attorneys to file for an immediate stay of his overreaching decision.”

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/205887-huckabee-wants-judge-impeached-after-gay-marriage-ruling

South Africa – Lifting of ban on homosexuals donating blood

In the past, homosexual men were seen as being at high risk of being infected with HIV and could only donate blood to SANBS if they had been celibate for six months or longer. The policy made in 2006 was widely criticised as discriminatory, unfairly targeting homosexual men while allowing heterosexual people who engaged in equally risky or casual sex to donate. Vanessa Raju, SANBS Communications Manager, confirmed that the non-discriminatory policy had been put in place that favors people in monogamous relationships, regardless of sexuality.

http://www.timeslive.co.za/local/2014/05/21/south-africa-lifts-ban-on-gay-men-donating-blood

IVF &Surrogacy

USA – Older infertile couples should try in vitro fertilization first

Middle-aged couples who want to have a baby but are having trouble conceiving should go straight to in vitro fertilization (IVF), skipping other types of fertility treatment, a new clinical trial recommends. Researchers found that women aged 38 and older were more than twice as likely to become pregnant through IVF within their first two cycles of treatment than if they used oral or injectable fertility drugs. They also were twice as likely to have a successful birth from that pregnancy. These findings should cause insurance officials to reconsider their refusal to cover IVF, given that pregnancy occurs more rapidly with IVF and with fewer complications, said Dr. Tomer Singer, a reproductive endocrinologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City.

http://www.myfoxaustin.com/story/25443503/older-infertile-couples-should-try-in-vitro-fertilization-first#ixzz31DKS0sWf

Medical Ethics

UK – Concern over new medical experimentation bill

Experts are seriously alarmed at the new Medical Innovation Bill, intended to allow doctors greater freedom to experiment on dying patients. Legal philosopher Jaquline Laing concludes: “In short, medical experimentation on patients is mainstreamed while no clear conditions as to what would constitute degrading and inhuman treatment are anywhere outlined. Indeed, the very possibility of degrading and inhuman treatment is not considered, whether in the language of the bill or in any preamble, and safeguards nowhere outlined.” The Academy of Royal Medical Colleges is opposing the bill on similar grounds. They argued that the prudential requirements set out by the bill were too lax, and furthermore that the bill could turn medical innovation into an individual activity.

http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10943

UK – Conscientious objectors barred from qualification in UK

The UK Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has barred doctors and nurses from qualifications if they refuse to prescribe or administer contraceptives. Dr. Peter Saunders, head of the Christian Medical Fellowship, said,  “If you look at non-Catholic Christians there would be many who may have no objection to contraception and see it as responsible behaviour but who draw the line at prescribing contraceptives meant to be taken after fertilization”. David Jones, director of the Anscombe Bioethics Centre in Oxford, said, “This is a form of unjust discrimination against professionals on the basis of their personal beliefs and, indirectly, a form of discrimination against patients who share the same beliefs and who may wish to be treated by professionals with a sympathetic understanding of their position.”

http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10945

Pedophilia

Germany – Pedophile brains ‘abnormally tuned to children’

The brains of pedophiles are abnormally “tuned” to be attracted to the faces of children, according to a study conducted by Dr Jorge Ponseti from Christian-Albrechts University in Kiel, Germany. 56 male brains were scanned by scientists, including 24 pedophiles, while they looked at photos of men, women, boys and girls faces. The same face and sexual processing regions of the brain were stimulated when adults saw photos of men and women and when pedophiles looked at images of children. The findings confirmed previous research showing that human face processing reflects sexual preferences. However, the study found no reason as to why pedophile brain’s preferred children.

http://www.itv.com/news/2014-05-21/paedophile-brains-abnormally-tuned-to-children/

Pornography

USA – Porn magazines to be banned from military bases

Morality in the Media has demanded the Pentagon take pornography magazines off the shelves at military bases because they are ‘sexually exploitative’. Also, military wives have complained that easy access to porn at bases is breaking up their marriages because their husbands come back from deployment addicted to porn. Pornography is sexually exploitative and the military has a sexual exploitation problem, according to deputy executive director for Morality in Media, Casey Capozzoli. Selling sexually explicit material on base is against the law, according to the Military Honor and Decency Act, passed in 1996. The Department of Defense Appropriations Bill 2014, to be released in June, directs military officials to start the process of pulling the magazines off the shelves.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2353643/Porn-magazines-set-banned-military-bases-servicemens-wives-claim-causes-marriage-break-ups.html#ixzz31xkHy9w2

USA – The truth about the porn industry

Gail Dines, an academic and author of an explosive new book about the sex industry, ‘Pornland: How Porn Has Hijacked Our Sexuality’, interviewed a number of men in prison who had committed rape against children. All were habitual users of child pornography. They all said that they got bored with ‘regular’ porn and wanted something fresh. They were horrified at the idea of sex with a prepubescent child initially but within six months they had all raped a child. Child porn has increased significantly in popularity in recent years, with almost 14m internet searches for “teen sex” in 2006, an increase of more than 60{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} since 2004.

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2010/jul/02/gail-dines-pornography

USA – Porn is a public health issue

The Coalition to End Sexual Exploitation is looking at pornography as a complex social problem that should be framed as a public health issue. Dawn Hawkins of Morality in the Media says porn sites get more visitors per month than Netflix, Amazon and Twitter combined. A third of all downloads contain porn and the Internet hosts 4.2 million porn websites. Porn is without doubt the most powerful form of sex education today, with studies showing the average age of first viewing porn is between 11 and 14. According to Mary Anne Layden of the University of Pennsylvania, who specializes in sexual trauma, pornography has been a factor in every case of sexual violence that she has treated as a psychotherapist.

http://www.iol.co.za/lifestyle/love-sex/sex/porn-is-public-health-issue-1.1689487#.U348jdiKCUk

Prostitution & Trafficking

Canada – Use provincial laws to fight prostitution

The federal government is expected to introduce amendments to the Criminal Code soon that will revamp the current law, by targeting pimps and johns but exempting prostitutes from prosecution.  A different approach to the problem is needed and if prostitution is to be eradicated, it must also be fought at the provincial level because provincial laws move faster, have fewer procedural impediments, and could pose a far more immediate threat to the sex-trade industry if properly deployed.  We need to stop regarding prostitution as an issue that can only be addressed by the federal government and with tougher criminal laws. A more coordinated approach, using existing provincial laws, could go a long way to reducing the problem.

http://www.westmanjournal.com/article/20140507/BRANDON0304/140509981/-1/BRANDON/use-provincial-laws-to-fight-prostitution

Stem Cells & Cloning

USA – Controversy over cardiac stem cells could sink “heart failure cure”

An experimental treatment led by Dr Piero Anvera using cardiac stem cells to regenerate heart tissue which was heralded as a revolutionary breakthrough and as a “heart failure cure” in The Lancet, has been retracted, with The Lancet issuing “an expression of concern” about the much-cited paper. “This notice of concern, coupled with the recent retraction, is extremely troubling because of the large number of clinical trials inspired by reports from this group, the many desperate patients potentially affected, and the large amount of federal and private money that has been diverted from other areas of promising research to pursue these ideas,” Professor Jonathan Epstein, of the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine commented.

http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10960

USA –  bioethics commission calls for ethics education in neuroscience

Calling for the integration of ethics into neuroscience, the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues released the 1st of 2 volumes on the ethics of brain research. The commission’s deliberations were shaped by a number of high-profile ethical disasters such as the fad for transorbital lobotomy, a psychosurgical procedure which cured “delusions, obsessions, and nervous tensions. As Chairperson, Amy Gutmann, of the University of Pennsylvania wrote in the Chronicle of Higher Education: “By integrating ethics into neuroscience research early and thoroughly, we can avoid the need for a future bioethics commission to perform a painful postmortem on the Brain Initiative. Ethics in science must not come to the fore for the first time after something has gone wrong.”

http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10970

Substance Abuse

USA – Synthetic Marijuana Hospitalizes 45 in Texas

During a 48-hour period over a weekend, 30 people in Dallas were admitted to local hospitals for reportedly overdosing on a synthetic marijuana product known as K2. An APD spokesman said in Texas there is an ongoing investigation into the most recent string of what he called “overdoses.” “This is the first time we’ve seen synthetic marijuana overdoses in ‘mass’ quantities like this. We need to figure out where this stuff is coming from.” Dr. James E’tienne, an emergency physician at Baylor University Medical Center, told Dallas media outlet WFAA-TV, “Several of [the patients] came in with similar symptoms of psychosis, altered mental status, abnormal behavior–ranged from very sedated to an agitated state.

http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-Texas/2014/05/05/Synthetic-Marijuana-Hospitalizes-45-Smokers-In-Texas

USA – Recreational Marijuana May Be Linked To Brain Changes

New research reports that for each additional joint a person smokes per week, the greater the odds of structural changes to areas involved in motivation, reward, and emotion. “This study raises a strong challenge to the idea that casual marijuana use isn’t associated with bad consequences,” said study author Hans Breiter, psychiatry and behavioral sciences professor at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and psychiatrist at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. “Some of these people only used marijuana to get high once or twice a week. People think a little recreational use shouldn’t cause a problem, if someone is doing OK with work or school. Our data directly says this is not the case.

http://ballardcoalition.org/even-recreational-marijuana-may-linked-brain-changes-alice-walton/

USA – WHO says alcohol killed 3.3 million in 2012

More than 3 million people died from using alcohol in 2012, for reasons ranging from cancer to violence. More needs to be done to protect populations from the negative health consequences of alcohol consumption, said Oleg Chestnov, a WHO expert on chronic disease and mental health. He added there was “no room for complacency”, warning that drinking too much kills more men than women, raises people’s risk of developing more than 200 diseases, and killed 3.3 million people in 2012. Poorer people are generally more affected by the social and health consequences of alcohol, he said.  More also needed to be done to raise awareness of the damage alcohol can do to people’s health.

http://www.iol.co.za/news/world/alcohol-killed-3-3-million-in-2012-who-1.1686974#.U3Fx0EpZCSB

USA – Marijuana Legalization In States Making Waves At UN

With Washington State and Colorado opening the door to legal recreational marijuana use, a United Nations report has been published which takes issue with this drift towards legalization. This year’s annual report commented on the legalization of marijuana in Colorado which, it says, has increased the number of drugged driving accidents. INCB President Raymond Yans urges national governments to look at drug policy through a wide angle lens. What is best for the health of the country? The science behind medical marijuana is sketchy and is seen by the U.N. group as dangerous to public health. Although the U.S. has permitted states to approve marijuana for medical use there is no solid research showing it to have legitimate medical applications.

http://www.addictiontreatmentmagazine.com/addiction/drug-abuse/marijuana-legalization-in-u-s-states-making-waves-at-the-u-n/

Disclaimer: the views and opinions expressed in these articles do not necessarily reflect those of Doctors for LifeInternational

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