LIFEalerts 09 February 2018
LIFEAlerts
LIFEalerts 18 January 2018
Peru – Rape victim’s who love their babies
UK – 466 reported abortion complications raise concerns
No news today
Canada – Some doctors are refusing to treat attempted suicides
Canada – Doctor to face disciplinary hearing for euthanasia
UK – United Kingdom court to rule on food and fluids
USA – Illusions of safeguards in Oregon
No news today
USA – ‘Uber for birth control’ creates new ethical challenges
USA – Should doctors comply with all patient requests?
USA – Paediatrician exposes the dangers of transgender ideology
South Africa – 70{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} of SA sex workers don’t protect themselves
North Africa – Is Facebook Enabling The African Exodus To Europe?
USA – ‘Juuling’ a very dangerous smoking game for children
USA – Trump administration toughens stance on recreational marijuana
USA/South Africa – Kratom, an addict’s alternative, is found addictive itself
Abortion
USA – Another woman shares her abortion regret
Ally Bowlin struggled for six years trying to suppress emotions of grief after having an abortion. This led her to experience anxiety, anger and depression (symptoms associated with post-abortion stress syndrome in women). She became quick-tempered and couldn’t handle being alone because it would remind her of the abortion and heartache. She points out that a life for a life never empowered her as the abortion industries so often promote, and she eventually sought counselling to deal with the regrets she had been suppressing for years. Ally is now a national programs coordinator for Students for Life America.
Peru – Rape victim’s who love their babies
Rebecca Kiessling, founder and president of ‘Save the 1’ addressed a pro-life conference in Peru with her personal story. Rebecca’s mother was a victim of rape and sought an abortion twice; at the time (48 years ago) the law protected the unborn child and the mother from the horror of abortion. Today, Rebecca and her mother are both thankful for the law that was in place at that time. Rebecca says women who were raped suffer more because people don’t believe they were raped if they don’t go through with an abortion. Women actually love their unborn despite what happened to them and should not be forced into thinking that abortion is the only solution.
UK – 466 reported abortion complications raise concerns
Legalizing abortion was supposedly meant to make abortion “safe” for the mother at least, while the baby undergoes horrific procedures that poisons or rips the child a part. But ambulances were called to abortion clinics in London a total of 466 times over the last year. ‘Life’s’ Director of Education Anne Scanlan said, “Abortion clinics nationally have been guilty of health and safety breaches over the last few years and there is a need for immediate intervention to protect women from them instead of loosening the laws, as is being demanded by the abortion lobby. Women need greater support to continue with their pregnancy, not the exploitation of their crisis pregnancy by the abortion industry.”
No news today
Canada – Some doctors are refusing to treat attempted suicides
Quebec’s College of Physicians has issued an ethics bulletin which says that last year, “in some Quebec hospitals, some people who had attempted to end their lives through poisoning were not resuscitated when, in the opinion of certain experts, a treatment spread out over a few days could have saved them with no, or almost no, after-effects.” Bernard Mathieu, president of Association of Quebec Emergency Physicians said, “It’s possible it has confused doctors a little bit,” he said. Wesley J. Smith commented, “How many of those people would have been glad their lives were saved, as sometimes happens when suicides fail? We’ll never know because they are dead.”
Canada – Doctor to face disciplinary hearing for euthanasia
Dr Ellen Wiebe has been reported to the College of Physicians and Surgeons in British Columbia, Canada, by CEO David Kesselman, director of the Louis Brier Nursing Home, Vancouver, for euthanizing a patient residing in the home at the time, without consulting his nursing staff. Dr Wiebe snuck into the old age home after hours to perform the procedure. Dr Wiebe will face a disciplinary hearing with the College of Physicians and Surgeons which regulates the practice of medicine in British Columbia. David Kesselman states that Dr Wiebe’s action was totally unethical as she was made aware of the nursing home’s policy regarding Medical Assistance in Dying.
UK – United Kingdom court to rule on food and fluids
The UK Supreme court will be ruling on the 29 January 2018 on whether doctors can remove food and fluids from brain-damaged patients without going to court.
USA – Illusions of safeguards in Oregon
Articles by Wesley J. Smith expose weaknesses in safeguarding measures in the USA Oregon Death with Dignity Act Model. The Oregon Health Authority revealed that its own interpretation of the law is permissive. The law does not compel patients to have exhausted all treatment options first, or to continue with their current treatment.
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/455264/oregons-permissive-assisted-suicide-regime
IVF&Surrogacy
No news today
Medical Ethics
USA – ‘Uber for birth control’ creates new ethical challenges
A new smartphone app, Nurx prescribes and delivers all kinds of contraception plus the morning-after pill. Since there are no consultation or delivery fees, for women with health insurance their contraception will effectively be free. For those who don’t, the service costs US$15 a month. A woman selects a prescription, answers a few health and demographic questions, and a doctor will write a prescription. The medication arrives within 3 to 5 days. Nurx automatically refills the prescription, as well. More disturbingly it accepts applications from girls as young as 12 and anyone who might be ordering the Pill for the first time – without seeing a doctor face-to-face – although Nurx does offer the option of a video chat over the phone. Since Nurx has to comply with state laws, it is available in only 15 states plus Washington DC but is pushing to roll out its coverage across the US.
https://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/uber-for-birth-control-creates-new-ethical-challenges/12526
USA – Should doctors comply with all patient requests?
According to a report in Forbes, 2{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} of primary care physicians’ pay is now based on “patient satisfaction metrics”. Does this mean that doctors should agree with every request from a patient? The authors of an article in JAMA Internal Medicine respond with a qualified No. They found that 68{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} of requests included an explicit request by the patient but that doctors complied with only 85{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} of these. When doctors did refuse, their satisfaction ratings could be 10 to 20 percentiles lower. “The sizes of the associations suggest that clinicians who are less likely than their colleagues to fulfil patient requests for these services could face a penalty in satisfaction ratings, potentially affecting clinician career satisfaction, compensation, and handling of subsequent requests for these services.” What doctors need, they suggest is, “Training … to provide clinicians with communication approaches that foster a positive patient experience without simply acquiescing to requests for low-value care, thereby avoiding the harms of unnecessary evaluation and treatment, maintaining good stewardship of resources and potentially enhancing clinician career satisfaction.”
https://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/should-doctors-comply-with-all-patient-requests/12537
Pedophilia
South Africa – UK man wanted for paedophilia
Lee Tucker, a commercial pilot had been living in Cape Town for 15 years before he was arrested in March 2016. He is wanted in the UK for 42 paedophilia-related charges and believes he is being targeted because he is homosexual. The charges he faces in the UK include assaulting underage boys, living from the earnings of male prostitution and being part of a paedophile ring in Bristol in 1998. Tucker remains in Pollsmoor prison until his next hearing.
USA – New film normalises pedastry
“Call me by your name” is a new movie about an older man’s affair with a 17-year-old boy whose relationship sparks homoeroticism and flirtation, which then turns romantic and carnal. Summed up, the movie is about pedastry. This movie seeks to mainstream sexual activity between a man and a boy in a warm and fuzzy way. This message will find its way into homes on the television, laptop computers and Smartphone’s of adolescent children. It is not pornography, but overtly an attempt to normalize pedastry.
http://ew.com/movies/2017/11/21/call-me-by-your-name-review/
Australia – New laws to crackdown on child sexual abuse
Last year, 800 registered paedophiles travelled overseas, often to developing countries in Asia, and about 40{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} did so without notifying police. “This will now stop,” said Foreign Minister Julie Bishop. The new law stops paedophiles convicted in Australia from travelling elsewhere to offend. Paedophiles can have their passports cancelled at the request of authorities and it is now an offence to travel without approval from law enforcement agencies. The Government is proposing new offences and tougher penalties targeting live-streamed child abuse and online grooming. They also plan tougher fines on internet service providers if they do not report abusive material to police since there is a growing concern for the role that technology plays.
http://www.themalaysianinsight.com/s/27388/
Pornography
No news today
Same Sex Attraction
USA – Health issues associated with MSM
The Gay and Lesbian Medical Association updated their publication this year in August called: “Ten things gay men should discuss with their health care provider”, that men who have sex with men (MSM) not only have an increased risk of HIV infection but also abuse substances at a higher rate, have higher rates of depression and anxiety, increased risk of hepatitis, STDs occur at a higher rate and includes STD infections for which no cure is available. MSM are more at risk for prostate, testicular and colon cancer. The Human Papilloma virus puts MSM at high risk for anal cancers and the rates of spreading this infection between partners are also very high.
USA – Social discrimination and the facts
A new report by the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) called ‘HIV among Gay and Bisexual Men’, reveals that men who have sex with men (MSM) make up only 4{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} of the entire U.S. population, but account for more than two-thirds of all new HIV infections which is more than 44 times that of other men. Many MSM are unaware of their status and unknowingly transmit the virus while other MSM give false information about their HIV status to their partner. The CDC also claims that social discrimination is a factor that contributes to the risky sexual behaviour of MSM. However, the Netherlands legalized homosexuality since 2001 and despite their liberal recognition for homosexuality, a 2015 report from the Netherlands shows that the health implications of MSM did not decrease but that some infections increased.
https://www.cdc.gov/nchhstp/newsroom/docs/factsheets/cdc-msm-508.pdf
USA – Paediatrician exposes the dangers of transgender ideology
Dr. Michelle Cretella M.D. has been a paediatrician for over 20 years and in this video posted by the Daily Signal, she likens the transgender ideology to child abuse and explains that our sex is determined at conception by our DNA, stamped into every cell in our bodies. There are over 6,500 genetic differences between men and women, hormones and surgery cannot, and do not change this. Thoughts and feelings are not biologically hardwired; our thinking may be factually right or factually wrong. According to most mainstream medical organisations, if you want to cut off a healthy leg or an arm, you’re mentally ill, and therefore the same would be true if you want to cut off healthy breasts or a penis. Dr. Cretella had one boy patient who was between 3-5 years old when she referred his parents to a therapist because the boy would play with stereotypical girls’ toys and would call himself a girl. The therapist learned that when the boy was three, his sister with special needs was born and she required more care and attention from his parents. The child misperceived this as his parents love girls and if he wants them to love him, he must be a girl. With family therapy, the boy got better. Sometimes mental illness of the parent or abuse of the child are also factors that cause a child to feel confused, but Dr. Cretella feels very strongly that telling children the lie that they could be trapped in the wrong body is psychological abuse that leads to chemical castration and surgical mutilation of a healthy body, and this ultimately tells the child not to trust in the reality of their physical body.
Sexual Exploitation
USA – The ‘chatbot’ taking on Seattle’s sex trade
You can find “her” number within fake messages placed alongside real ads on websites popular with those looking to buy sex. Naive and innocent, the chatbot will tell you she is nervous and check that her age is “cool with you”. If you say yes, that’s when it’s revealed: you’ve been talking to a chatbot, and buying sex is a crime that harms women the world over. The tool is part of groundbreaking efforts in Seattle to fight sex trafficking, an industry that like many others has moved online, and in doing so has become acutely difficult to prevent. Using chatbots, and machine learning, specialists here believe they can simultaneously achieve two huge goals –deterring men and helping women.
http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-42120800
South Africa – 70{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} of SA sex workers don’t protect themselves
Despite being offered a daily pill to protect them from HIV almost three-quarters of women sex workers stopped taking the pills after a year. This is according to a study published in the PLoS journal (Public Library of Science) conducted by the TAPS Demonstration Study (Treatment and Prevention for Female Sex workers in South Africa). The study tested almost 700 women, and says that the average woman was “married or had a steady partner, worked in brothels, and were born in Zimbabwe”. Almost half of the women tested were HIV positive (341). Of these, 139 decided to go on ARVs. Around 60{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} of them were still on the medication after a year. The sex workers who tested HIV negative (351) were offered one pill, Truvada, to take every day to protect them from the virus and 219 women accepted the offer. But a year later only 49 women were still taking Truvada – although none of those still on the pills had contracted HIV. “The final retention rate was lower than we would like. However, there were no seroconversions among those women who stayed on the PrEP arm,” said Robyn Eakle, a senior researcher from the Wits Reproductive Health and HIV Institute (WRHI), which was part of the study. Last year the SA Law Commission recommended that sex work remain illegal. “The issue of sex workers is not just for the Minister of Health but involves other Ministers,” said Motsoaledi. “India has not decriminalised sex workers, but health workers in Bangalore are working very openly with sex workers and police are not arresting them.”
Substance Abuse
USA – ‘Juuling’ a very dangerous smoking game for children
JUULing is not a new dance but instead a dangerous form of vaping that is tearing through schools across the country. John Ross, an M.D. at Brigham Hospital who contributes to the Harvard Health Blog said long-term safety data on e-cigarettes do not yet exist, and research from a group called Truth Initiative shows that 25{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} see no danger. “Electronic cigarettes are devices that heat a liquid into vapor, which is then inhaled; the liquid is anything from a flavored water or oil-type mixture to liquid nicotine to marijuana THC.” The True Initiative web panel survey of 5,018 15- to 24-year-olds in the U.S. revealed that 37{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} of teens don’t know they inhale nicotine, although on the JUUL website each pod is equal to 200 cigarette puffs, That’s like smoking a pack a day in one sitting. Like other forms of vaping, the JUULpods are offered in enticing flavors such as créme bruleé and mango and perky peach which is appealing to kids. And rather than smelling like an ashtray, JUUL smells pleasant. The JUUL device is sleek, and resembles a car key holder or flash drive or a pen that’s easily hidden.
USA – Trump administration toughens stance on recreational marijuana
The US Justice Department announced a “return to the rule of law”. Attorney General Jeff Sessions rescinded five key memos issued by the administration of President Barack Obama that discouraged enforcement of federal laws which still classify marijuana as a dangerous narcotic like heroin. This will clash with the six US states that have already moved ahead to legalize pot sales. Colorado, Washington, Oregon, Nevada, Alaska and California have legalized sales.”It is the mission of the Department of Justice to enforce the laws of the United States, and the previous issuance of guidance undermines the rule of law and the ability of our local, state, tribal and federal law enforcement partners to carry out this mission. “He directed federal attorneys “to use previously established prosecutorial principles that provide them all the necessary tools to disrupt criminal organizations and tackle the growing drug crisis.” Nevertheless, the move was seen as a signal that the government is likely to resist more legalization and decriminalization of cannabis.
USA/South Africa – Kratom, an addict’s alternative, is found addictive itself
It’s a fascinating drug, but we need to learn a lot more about it, said Dr. Edward W. Boyer, a professor of emergency medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical School and a co-author of several scientific articles on Kratom. “Recreationally or to self-medicate opioid dependence, beware – potentially you’re at just as much risk” as with an opiate. Kratom is derived from Mitragyna speciosa, a tropical deciduous and evergreen tree in the coffee tree family native to Southeast Asia in Indochina. Its leaves are used for traditional medicinal properties. It is psychoactive and the leaves are used to uplift mood and treat health problems. A recent article in the New York Times argues that it is just as addictive as heroin, for which it was used as a recovery tool from heroin addiction. Kratom’s narcotic effects have been known for centuries in its native Thailand which banned the substance decades ago. The FDA did ban the import of Kratom into the United States in 2014; however, Kratom now exists in a kind of legal purgatory. Because it is categorized as a botanical dietary supplement the Food and Drug Administration cannot restrict its sale unless it is proved unsafe or producers claim that it treats a medical condition. (Some packages are coyly labeled “not for human consumption” to avoid tripping FDA alarms.) This plant is currently 100{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} legally available to purchase in South Africa, at shops or online.
http://www.camcheck.co.za/kratom-addicts-alternative-found-addictive/
Disclaimer: the views and opinions expressed in these articles do not necessarily reflect those of Doctors for Life International
]]>LIFEalerts 29 November 2017
Abortion
USA – CNN crossfire debate on abortion (part 2)
Italy – Unknown group covers city of Rome with posters
Canada – The error in the ‘My body, my choice’ argument
Alternative Medicine
Euthanasia
Netherlands – Nitschke designs euthanasia machine with detachable coffin
Switzerland – Assisted suicide rates increased by 30{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4}
IVF and Surrogacy
Medical Ethics
UK – Court says woman in minimally conscious state be allowed to die
USA – Ethicists debate repairing human germlines
Italy – Scientists grow skin to save Syrian boy’s life
Pedophilia
Pornography
Same Sex Attraction
UK – Association of poor mental health and sexual identity
Sexual Exploitation
Substance Abuse
South Africa – Flakka on sale in SA '10 times more dangerous than cocaine'
Abortion
USA – CNN crossfire debate on abortion (part 1)
Lila Rose, the president of Live Action (a pro-life group) shares some interesting facts and suggestions on CNN crossfire debate on abortion. “We should dare to have a better view for America and our women by saying we shouldn’t have to think or believe that women need abortions and that we have to kill our children to achieve the dreams and careers and families that we want. I think we can do better as a society and women deserve better. We should reach out to women on community-level programs that are positive that help them if they’re single mothers, improve the foster care system and improve the adoption system so that we can welcome children to this country, instead of seeing them as a threat and killing them. Science is not about personal views but rather about facts that prove there is a person in the womb, not just a clump of tissue. The right of the woman wanting an abortion should end when another life in the womb begins because it is no longer about the pregnant woman but the individual growing inside of her.
https://youtu.be/WdPIgsGmDcU
USA – CNN crossfire debate on abortion (part 2)
In a debate about abortion on CNN crossfire Lila Rose, the president of Live Action a pro-life group, explains how abortion would be unnecessary if we addressed the reasons that make women believe they need an abortion. Lila asks “is it because a boss did not promote them? Or a boyfriend was going to leave them? Or a university professor said we are not going to be flexible with our class schedule? Let’s look at those reasons and address that instead of turning to killing, dismembering and poisoning our littlest Americans.” When Lila was asked whether a women should be forced to carry her rapist’s baby she responded by saying “an abortion does not unrape a woman, the rapist should be held accountable and she needs healing but abortion only adds to the violence”. She refers to the story of a women conceived in rape, Rebecca Keasling, she asked should she have received the death penalty for what her father did? “Should we be punished for what our fathers do wrong?”
https://youtu.be/WdPIgsGmDcU
Italy – Unknown group covers city of Rome with posters
Nearly forty years after abortion was legalized in Italy, an unknown pro-life group has sought to reawaken Italians to the horrifying reality of abortion. The city was covered with thousands of posters saying: “One child killed every five minutes. Since 1978 more than six million killed by abortion. Let us remember these dead” the posters stated. The picture on the poster was of a baby in the womb pursued by an instrument used to dismember the child during an abortion. Toni Brandi president of ProVita Onlus (another pro-life group) said the message was strong and encouraged the unknown authors to continue the good fight.
https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/pro-lifers-blanket-rome-with-posters-protesting-abortion
Canada – The error in the ‘My body, my choice’ argument
A video was released by Canadian pro-life group Choice 42 points out the flawed slogan that pro-abortion activists use ‘My body, my choice’. Laura Klassen the founder and director of Choice 42 explained in the video “My body does not have two heads, four arms, or 20 toes. If I were to get an abortion right now, I wouldn’t be aborting my own body. I’d be aborting the body inside my body.” When a mother chooses abortion, “she’s choosing for two,” Klassen said in a blog post. “She’s deciding the path her own life will take, but she’s also deciding whether or not her unborn child will even get his/her chance at life.”
https://youtu.be/IufyKdrAQIY
Alternative Medicine
[No news today]Euthanasia
Netherlands – Demand for euthanasia surges in the Netherlands
Euthanasia is becoming so popular in the Netherlands that the country’s only dedicated death clinic cannot keep up with the demand. Steven Pleiter, director of the Levenseindekliniek in Amsterdam said ‘If there was any taboo, it has gone’. Professor Theo Boer, who served on the Dutch euthanasia review committee between 2005 and 2014, has become a prominent critic of euthanasia, “There is no dispute about the good intentions of the people at the end of life clinic. [But] they may have become too used to doing euthanasia. Yes, they have expertise but they are too experienced. You should never get used to helping someone die.”
https://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/demand-for-euthanasia-surges-in-the-netherlands/
Netherlands – Nitschke designs euthanasia machine with detachable coffin
Australia’s best-known euthanasia activist, Dr Philip Nitschke, is back in the news with another machine for committing suicide. The machine will allow anyone who has the access key to end their life by simply pressing a button. Developed in the Netherlands by Nitschke and an engineer, the machine can be 3D printed and assembled in any location. Access to the Sarco capsule will be by an online mental questionnaire which will provide a four-digit access code. Design criteria for the Sarco will be free, made open-source and placed on the internet.
https://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/nitschke-designs-new-euthanasia-machine-with-detachable-coffin/
Switzerland – Assisted suicide rates increased by 30{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4}
The rates of assisted suicide in Switzerland increased by 30{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} in 2015, bringing it close to eclipsing suicide as a cause of death. 965 Swiss residents (426 male and 539 female) died by assisted suicide in Switzerland in 2015, up from 742 deaths (320 male and 422 female) in 2014. Of the 965 deaths by assisted suicide, 822 were of individuals 65 years or older. Importantly the statistics do not include those who have travelled from another country to end their life in Switzerland.
https://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/swiss-assisted-suicide-rates-increased-by-30-in-2015/
IVF and Surrogacy
[No news today]Medical Ethics
USA – Is human gene editing around the corner?
Stanford medical researcher Henry Miller has declared in the Wall Street Journal that the time had come for modifying the human germline using CRISPR. It is wrong to deprive desperate parents who are carriers of genetic diseases of their chance to have healthy children. “The technology is arguably at the stage where clinical trials could be undertaken to see whether gene-edited human embryos can develop into healthy babies.” However, stem cell expert Paul Knoepfler argues that the science is very far from perfect. It’s unwise to rush into human clinical research of any kind and that’s especially true if it includes heritable genetic modification. You first need reproducible, rigorous data to back you up from sufficiently powerful studies and a good sense of anticipated risks. “What happens to the unhealthy or deceased CRISPR’d humans you made in your experiment that didn’t turn out the way you had hoped? We just say “oops”? Or what if the babies seem OK at first, but then later they become ill or die? These are not fun questions to ask or ponder, but they are deeply important if we are going into this with our eyes open.”
https://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/is-human-gene-editing-around-the-corner/12504
UK – Court says woman in minimally conscious state be allowed to die
British High Court Justice Anthony Hayden has ruled that a 72-year-old woman in minimally conscious state following an acute hemorrhage from a brain aneurysm after a fall should have artificial feeding withdrawn. She had been on life-support for months and the Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust recently applied to the Court of Protection for a ruling that continuing the feeding was in her best interests. But Justice Hayden ruled in favour of the woman’s daughter (who opposed feeding), saying that there was “clear and compelling” evidence (such as an email sent to her daughter before the fall) that the woman would not have wanted life support to continue. The case follows a landmark ruling in September that clinically assisted feeding and hydration may be withdrawn from patients in a persistent vegetative or minimally conscious state without going to court, where doctors and families agree.
https://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/woman-in-minimally-conscious-state-should-be-allowed-to-die-uk-court/
USA – Ethicists debate repairing human germlines
With the rapid advance in gene-editing technology Bryan Cwik, a philosopher at Portland State University argues in the New England Journal of Medicine that “intergenerational monitoring” will be needed, not just of the first generation of modified children, but of their children and grandchildren. “Monitoring for effects of gene editing will require consent and participation from multiple generations of descendants of the original participants. Studies will therefore require researchers to have access to key medical data for entire families over several decades.” But Harvard stem cell scientist George Church writes “some critics fret about the slippery slope of human enhancement and the impossibility of obtaining consent from future generations. Doing nothing merely for fear of unknown risks is itself risky — greatly restricting the advance of medicine.
https://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/nejm-debates-repairing-human-germlines/
Italy – Scientists grow skin to save Syrian boy’s life
A group of scientists in Italy have managed to treat a Syrian refugee boy suffering from Junctional Epidermolysis Bullosa, a genetic disease that causes the skin to become fragile and blister. By the time he received specialist medical attention, the boy had lost almost all his skin (specifically, the epidermal layer of the skin), save a small patch on his leg and head. The research team, led by Michele De Luca at the University of Modena, grew genetically modified skin in a laboratory that could replace the lost epidermal tissue. The replacement skin was based on a sample from the patient’s remaining healthy skin, which scientists genetically modified it using a virus to deliver a healthy version of the problematic gene. The team grew enough skin to cover almost the entire body of the boy and the new epidermis was attached like a patchwork quilt, covering almost his entire body. Two years on the boy is doing well. His skin is healthy and he doesn’t need to take medication or use ointments. He is back at school, plays football and when he gets a cut it heals normally.
https://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/scientists-grow-skin-to-save-syrian-boys-life/
Pedophilia
USA – Homosexual pair shared adopted son with sex ring for six years
In 2005 two homosexual men adopted a son from a woman in Russia for the sole purpose of sexual abuse and sex trafficking, police told the court. Police also told the court that videos and images of the boys abuse was uploaded to a national paedophile ring called ‘Boy Lovers Network’ which had 70,000 members worldwide before it was subject to international raids that arrested 670 men. The two homosexual men were found guilty for offering the boy for sex to at least eight men in the US, France and Germany. They have been sentenced to 30 and 40 years in prison in the USA.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5087453/Cairns-gay-couple-Mark-Newton-Peter-Truong.html
Pornography
USA – The world has become pornified
The internet has made an entire universe of pornographic content available to all of us. Many of the statistics have become outdated but updated numbers based on credible studies carried out in 2016 or 2017 are now available. In 2016 people watched 4.6 billion hours of pornography on just one website (the biggest porn site in the world). That’s 524,000 years of porn or about 17 000 complete lifetimes. In the same year people watched 92 billion videos (or an average of 12.5 for every person on earth). Understanding how much is consumed at just one site can at least help us see that this problem is nothing less than epidemic.
https://www.challies.com/articles/10-ugly-and-updated-numbers-about-pornography-use/ https://www.barna.com/the-porn-phenomenon/
Same Sex Attraction
Turkey – Homosexual events banned in country
Turkey’s capital city of Ankara joined Egypt, Indonesia and Russia in banning all homosexual events such as screenings, filming, exhibitions and parades. The governor of Ankara said LGBT events will provoke and cause animosity between different groups and endanger public health and morality and the rights and freedoms of others. Homosexuality is not a crime in Turkey and many LGBT associations are legally registered with the state.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/lgbt-events-banned-turkey-ankara-protect-public-security-governors-office-health-and-morality-a8063526.html
UK – Association of poor mental health and sexual identity
A new study called ‘Sexual orientation and symptoms of common mental disorder or low wellbeing: combined meta-analysis of 12 UK population health surveys’, pooled data from a British Cohort Study 2012, Health Survey for England 2011, 2012 and 2013, Scottish Health Survey 2008 to 2013, Longitudinal Study of Young People in England 2009/10 and Understanding Society 2011/2012. In conclusion this study showed that despite the participants being mostly heterosexual 97.2 {01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4}, while 1.1 {01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} are lesbian/gay and 0.9 {01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} are bisexual and 0.8 {01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} as ‘other, the homosexual groups experience a greater prevalence of poor mental health (anxiety or depression), substance abuse, suicidality and self-harm compared to heterosexuals, particularly younger and older homosexual adults. Population-based evidence of poorer mental health in homosexual people has been found in samples from the United States, Netherlands and England. The study also shows how sexual identity is necessary to be recorded when seeking psychological therapies to better help the minority group.
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-016-0767-z
Sexual Exploitation
[No news today]Substance Abuse
USA – The first baby to die in the USA ‘associated with cannabis’
There might be a link between marijuana and heart failure in children. A baby boy’s death has prompted a debate among doctors after it was claimed that he died of a marijuana overdose. After suffering from a seizure, the 11-month-old died from heart failure and doctors subsequently produced a report linking his death to marijuana. “We just wanted to make sure that we’re not going to call this a marijuana-related fatality if there was something else that we could point it at,” said Dr. Christopher Hoyte of the Colorado’s Rocky Mountain Poison & Drug Center. “And we have looked and couldn’t find it.” Dr Hoyte was on duty as a poison control officer when he treated the child and found that his urine and blood tested positive for marijuana, thereafter “One thing just led to another and the child ended up with a heart stopped. And the child stopped breathing and died.” The report concluded: this is the first reported pediatric death associated with cannabis.”
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/marijuana-overdose-baby-colorado-dr-christopher-hoyte-dr-thomas-nappe-a8062256.html
South Africa – Flakka on sale in SA '10 times more dangerous than cocaine'
Flakka is in Durban and the authorities are warning about its dangerous effects, which include mental disturbance and psychotic episodes. “About 10 times more powerful than cocaine,” says director Walter Petersen of SANCA Durban, describing “flakka”. Mr. Petersen told newspapers that flakka – is also known as “bath baths”. Petersen explained it was a powerful upper like amphetamines and that its use could lead to paranoia, overheating, hallucinations, delirium, and even death! “It is cheaper than cocaine and you can buy it online.” Petersen also stated that if users came to SANCA their offices would treat them, however, “Users will probably be subject to a dual diagnosis –that of the addiction and for mental disturbance. They reported that the drug is being sold in Wentworth, Chatsworth and Pinetown.
https://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/kwazulu-natal/flakka-10-times-more-powerful-than-cocaine-11920343
LIFEalerts 15 November 2017
Abortion
UK – Legal abortion clinic pays staff bonuses to ensure abortions The Health Service Watchdog, the Care Quality Commission (CQC), had staff members at Marie Stopes abortion clinics report on how bonus incentives are given to staff who persuade as many women as they can to abort their babies. There are 70 clinics in the UK and CQC inspectors found evidence of a policy that strongly discourages the presence of parents, partners or friends of the pregnant women because they might persuade them to reconsider an abortion. Inspectors also raised concerns that girls under the age of 16 were aborting without being made fully aware of the risks involved. In December last year CQC highlighted more than 2,600 serious incidents at Marie Stopes’s clinics nationwide. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/abortions-marie-stopes-clinic-bonuses-persuade-women-investigation-a8012171.html USA – More abortion clinics fail health requirements Reports from the Texas Health Department show from 2011 to 2017 how abortion conglomerate Planned Parenthood has violated health codes by using rusty equipments, curettes with expired sterilization to scrape the mother’s womb to remove baby parts and failing to sterilize and disinfect instruments used from woman to woman. The abortionists also failed to give numbers of nearby hospitals in case the woman experienced complications due to her abortion. Suction machines that rip the baby out of the mother’s womb had rusted parts on it. Abby Johnson, a former Planned Parenthood director now turned pro-life is spreading awareness about what goes on in the clinics while also helping abortion workers leave their job. http://www.abbyjohnson.org/abbyjohnson/2017/9/6/whole-womens-health-exposed USA – Paediatricians laud new ethical non embryonic stem cell vaccine Glaxo SmithKline (GSK) has developed a new anti-shingles vaccine called Shingrix which is not made of aborted baby cell material. Shingrix is approved by the FDA and studies show it to be 97.2 {01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} effective in people over 50 years old with 95 percent immunity maintained after four years. This shows that Shingrix is superior to Merck’s vaccine made of aborted baby cells. The American College of Paediatricians are urging all manufacturers to seek ethical alternatives to current vaccines produced using aborted baby cells. https://www.acpeds.org/pediatricians-applaud-gsk-for-new-ethical-shingles-vaccine USA – Former abortion doctor changes her view on abortion Dr. Kathi Aultman a board certified gynaecologist and former abortionist has changed her views. Dr. Aultman testified in favour of banning abortions on babies with a heartbeat, which begins 21 days after conception, to a U.S. Judiciary Committee. She says her patients led her to think differently as she observed women who chose life do amazingly well compared to women who suffered terribly after aborting their babies. Dr. Aultman said a woman cannot remain unscathed after killing her child. If passed, this legislation will make it illegal for doctors to abort babies with beating hearts and no exceptions will be made for rape and incest incidents. http://docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU10/20171101/106562/HHRG-115-JU10-Wstate-AultmanK-20171101.pdfAlternative Medicine
No news todayEuthanasia
Australia – Victoria euthanasia bill in the balance as WMA intervenes The expectation among political pundits was that the bill would pass the Upper House with little resistance. Meanwhile, the World Medical Association has strongly urged Victorian Parliamentarians to vote against it, saying that euthanasia violates the basic principles of medical ethics. In a statement the WMA said: “[Legalised euthanasia] will create a situation of direct conflict with physicians’ ethical obligations to patients and will harm the “ethical tone” of the profession…it is in conflict with basic ethical principles of medical practice, and [the WMA] strongly encourages all national medical associations and physicians to refrain from participating in euthanasia, even if national law allows it or decriminalises it under certain conditions.” https://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/vic-euthanasia-bill-hangs-in-the-balance-as-wma-intervenes/12494? Belgium – Euthanasia doctors split over psychiatric illness Dr Wim Distelmans, an oncologist and chair of the country’s euthanasia commission Is alarmed at the policies followed by psychiatrist Lieve Thienpont. In 2015, Thienpont was tracking 100 of her patients who had requested euthanasia between 2007 and 2011. Of those, 48 were granted permission. Distelmans and his colleagues appear to be concerned that Thienpont was filling her psychiatric patients with unrealistic expectations about their requests for euthanasia. “I’m convinced that in Belgium, people have died where there were still treatment options and where there was still a chance for years and even decades of (quality) life,” said Dr Joris Vandenberghe, a psychiatrist at the University of Leuven. https://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/belgium-euthanasia-doctors-split-over-psychiatric-illness/12490? Netherlands – Study casts doubt on effectiveness of euthanasia regulation “Strict”, “scrupulous” and “rigid” – these are some of the words that have been used in a new study by researchers from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The study, authored by David Miller and Dr Scott Kim from the NIH’s bioethics department analyses 33 cases from 2012 to 2016 in which the Dutch euthanasia review committees (RTE) deemed that doctors had failed to meet due care criteria. The study found that out of 33 cases reviewed, 22 failed to meet the procedural due care criteria (i.e., due medical care and consulting an independent physician). “These criteria are more clearly operationalised than other criteria”, the authors observe. In six of the cases, the RTE found that the passive assisted suicide doctors had not been thorough enough in applying the “unbearable suffering” criterion. https://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/new-study-casts-doubt-on-effectiveness-of-euthanasia-regulation-in-the-neth/12501 Belgium – Is euthanasia for psychological suffering changing medicine? Forty two psychiatrists, psychologists and academics have published an open letter calling for a national debate on euthanasia and mental illness. The current law is far too vague and flexible: “The law does not indicate the exact criteria for unbearable and psychological suffering. Any complaint about any carelessness in this area will only end in a legal ‘no man’s land’.”More and more, no matter how many criteria there are, it depends simply on how an individual psychiatrist interprets or tests them, aided by the doctor’s own assumptions and the patient’s account of his symptoms.” “Some people are dying unnecessarily. To stand silently on the sidelines is a crime of neglect.” “Since the euthanasia law there has been some kind of madness in our work. After the threat of suicide, for which you must be constantly on guard as a psychiatrist, there is now the threat of euthanasia.” https://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/is-euthanasia-for-psychological-suffering-changing-belgian-medicine/12495 Germany – Is there a difference between euthanasia and palliated starvation? While euthanasia and assisted suicide are currently illegal in most countries, the practice of voluntarily stopping eating and drinking (VSED) is seen by some as an ethically and legally permissible alternative. Yet a new paper published in BMC Medicine argues that VSED is ethically indistinguishable from assisted suicide, and should be subject to the same legal regulations as more salient cases of assistance in dying. Lead author Ralf J. Jox of the Institute for Ethics, History and Theory of Medicine at the University of Munich argues that, “supporting patients who embark on VSED amounts to assistance in suicide, at least in some instances, depending on the kind of support and its relation to the patient’s intention”. The authors of the paper conclude that the same legal prescriptions or regulations that apply to physician assisted suicide should also apply to VSED. https://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/is-there-any-difference-between-euthanasia-and-palliated-starvation/12500IVF&Surrogacy
Australia – Calls for commercial surrogacy as children get stranded An Australian couple living in the US has discovered they will not be recognized as the parents of their surrogate born children if they return home. David and Naomi Seddon were married in the US and had two baby girls via a commercial surrogate in California. The girls are US citizens, but will not be recognized as children of the Seddon’s under Australian law. “If we were to not get our visas renewed we can’t stay in US, but the girls can’t [stay in] Australia, because legally we’re not their parents.” Assisted reproductive technology pioneer Gab Kovacs has called for immediate law reform, citing the increasing demand for surrogacy in Australia. https://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/calls-for-commercial-surrogacy-in-australia-as-children-get-stranded/12481Medical Ethics
Iran – Legal market in kidneys creates a black market too Iran is the only country in the world where people can sell their kidneys legally. Recipients pay US$4,600 to the government which the donor receives after the operation. “Yes, people donate because they need money, but this is a reality all over the world,” said Nasser Simforoosh, a Tehran transplant surgeon. Despite government crackdowns on illegal transplant operations, patients who do not want to wait are willing to pay higher rates. Posters advertise the kidneys of the desperate and indebted. “If I could sell my kidney, I could get out of debt,” Ali Rezaei, a bankrupt 42-year-old said. “I would sell my liver too.” “The price is going to go higher and higher,” said Behrooz Broumand, of the Iranian Society of Organ Transplantation. “Transplant commercialism is a race. As long as there is poverty, they cannot stop it.” https://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/irans-legal-market-in-kidneys-creates-a-black-market-too/12478 USA – Groundbreaking surgery prevents worst effects of spina bifida Many parents choose to terminate their pregnancy when they discover their child has spina bifida but surgeons from Baylor College of Medicine, led gynecologist Dr Michael A. Belfort, are trying to stop some of the worst effects of spina bifida through an early intervention during pregnancy. The new technique involves a temporary removal of the womb that allows doctors better access to the spinal cord of the fetus. Using a “fetoscope” and special surgical tools, doctors drain amniotic fluid from the back of the fetus and seal the skin over the spinal cord to prevent further exposure. The womb is then inserted back into the mother. Results from 28 cases in which the operation has been performed were reported in the journal Obstetrics and Gynecology. The intervention does not appear to have negative effects on the outcome of the pregnancy, and it vastly decreases the likelihood of mobility problems for the child. Foetuses who receive the surgery are much less likely to need a shunt, though children still often need a catheter to pass urine. https://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/groundbreaking-surgery-may-prevent-worst-effects-of-spina-bifida/12491 USA – New Hippocratic Oath for doctors approved by WMA A modern successor to the Hippocratic Oath for physicians has been approved by the World Medical Association. The “Declaration of Geneva” is to be called, not an “oath”, but a “pledge”. The most striking change is a clause has been inserted into the 2017 version which says, “I will respect the autonomy and dignity of my patient”. WMA President Dr Yoshitake Yokokura said: “The life of physicians today is completely different to what it was in 1948 when the original Declaration of Geneva was adopted. Since then, the Declaration has become a core document of medical ethics and a modern version of the 2,500-year old Hippocratic Oath. We hope that the Declaration approved today will be used by all physicians around the world to strengthen the profession’s determination to maintain the highest standard of health care for patients.” It is interesting to compare the 2017 version with the 1948 version. In many respects they are strikingly different. 1948: I will maintain the utmost respect for human life from the time of conception. 2017: I will maintain the utmost respect for human life. 1948: Even under threat, I will not use my medical knowledge contrary to the laws of humanity. 2017: I will not use my medical knowledge to violate human rights and civil liberties, even under threat. 1948: I will maintain by all the means in my power, the honor and the noble traditions of the medical profession; my colleagues will be my brothers 2017: I will foster the honor and noble traditions of the medical profession https://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/new-hippocratic-oath-for-doctors-approved/12496Pedophilia
UK – Sarah’s Law reveals sex-offenders and paedophiles Across the UK, paedophiles are required to sign the Sex Offenders’ Register. The child sex offender disclosure scheme, known as Sarah’s Law, allows anyone to ask the police if someone with access to a child has a record for child sexual offences. If the police make a disclosure, parents and carers must keep the information confidential and only use it to keep the child safe. Legal action may be taken if confidentiality is breached. This law was developed in consultation with Sarah Payne, whose 8 year-old daughter, Sarah, was murdered by a convicted paedophile in 2000. http://www.cornwalllive.com/news/uk-world-news/sarahs-law-can-reveal-nearby-738745Pornography
No news todaySame Sex Attraction
UK – Former transgender person is concerned for the youth A young medical student named Kate has explained how she was encouraged to undergo treatment after visiting online forums. She later abandoned the treatment after deciding she was no longer transgender and warns that groups advocating for transgenderism can cause great harm if they persuade parents that their children struggling with their sex is simply born with the wrong body. Professor Richard Weaver from the University of Chicago explained that society is being taken by propaganda where they are told that the best way to deal with gender dysphoric teens is to be supportive of their decisions without examining other angles of the issue. http://www.intellectualtakeout.org/article/sex-change-operations-will-be-one-great-medical-blunders-21st-century-predicts-former UK – Doctors can help more effectively if they know your sexuality Under new government plans as of 2019, doctors and hospitals will now be able to ask their patients whether they are homosexual or bisexual. This information is important since homosexuals are at higher risk for mental issues but patients will not forced to disclose this information. Prof Helen Stokes-Lampard, chair of the Royal College of GPs said a patient’s sexuality has the potential to impact their well-being and health care and that doctors are highly trained to have non-judgemental conversations about a patient’s lifestyle in order to help them. LGBT Campaigners and psychologists welcomed this announcement. https://inews.co.uk/nhs/doctor-explains-good-patients-will-asked-sexuality/ USA – Is there a link between homosexuality and paedophilia Actor Kevin Spacey recently came out as homosexual after allegations of sexual harassment were made against him by singer and actor Anthony Rapp. Rapp said it happened in 1986 when he was 14 and Spacey 26 years old at the time. Spacey himself grew up with a physically and sexually abusive father. The LGBT community is split as some say that paedophilic behaviour is a regular occurrence in the community that simply isn’t talked about while others lashed out at Spacey. Therapist David H. Pickup says “Statistically, about 75{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} of homosexual males have been sexually abused by older teens or men”. He mentioned the well-known example of LGBT legislator Harvey Milk who preyed on minor teens with emotional problems and drug addictions. Brian Camenker of MassResistance pointed out how British political commentator “Milo Yiannopoulos’ praise of men having sex with boys got him in trouble earlier this year. And Kevin Jennings, Obama’s “safe-schools czar” was also in trouble for giving advice to an underage student to ‘use a condom’ to have sex with an adult male. https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/kevin-spacey-admits-hes-gay-exposes-man-boy-sex-among-homosexualsSexual Exploitation
Bulgaria – Horrific injuries inflicted on a sex slave A woman was mutilated by criminals and forced into prostitution after being duped by a man who ‘promised her all his love’. Aid worker Norbert Ceipek has shared images of the woman and her injuries after opening a centre to help victims of human trafficking in Bulgaria. “She got to know a young man who took her to the Netherlands”. When she arrived, she realized that she has to walk the streets with another Bulgarian and two Nigerians. She does not want to but by beating and other compulsive measures she complies and prostitutes herself eight months. As a result she had scars and stitches across her stomach and an injury to her head. According to reports, they beat her so much she could have died.” http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/horrific-injuries-inflicted-sex-slave-11284118Substance Abuse
Portugal – National survey: Increase in psychoactive drug consumption Portugal, the iconic example of drug liberalization that is quoted over and over, had a rough landing with the release of country’s latest drug statistics revealing much of this closely-watched human experiment. According to the 4th National Survey on the Use of Psychoactive Substances in the General Population, Portugal 2016/17, there has been a rise in the prevalence of alcohol and tobacco consumption and of every illicit psychoactive substance (essentially affected by the weight of cannabis use in the population aged 15-74) between 2012 and 2016/17. The number of people using cannabis has gone up by more than 40 per cent in the years since Portugal made using drugs a ‘health problem rather than a crime’ in 2001. Some 15 years after Portuguese drug law ‘reforms’, almost 15 percent of the country’s young people have used cannabis, according to the figures collected by the Intervention Service for Addictive Behaviors and Dependencies (SICAD) agency, a level that is up from 12.4 percent. The study also saw an increase from 8.3{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} in 2012, to 10.2{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} in 2016/17, in the prevalence of illegal psychoactive substance use. “These are the trends found for cannabis,” the most popular illegal substance, according to the provisional results of the study. http://www.theportugalnews.com/news/alcohol-tobacco-and-drug-consumption-all-report-increases/43238 Canada – Smoking cannabis does make people more violent Cannabis users are more likely to commit violent crime pioneering research by five researchers from institutes based in Montreal, Canada has shown. The project is the first to demonstrate that cannabis is not only linked with violent crime but is the cause. They found no evidence that the link is the other way round – i.e. that violent people are more likely to use cannabis. Violent incidents monitored by the study based on the lives of more than 1,100 American psychiatric patients included assaults, attacks with weapons and rapes. There was no support, they added, for theories put forward by campaigners anxious to free the drug from the taint of links with crime. The study comes after a series of American states have decriminalised cannabis – despite it being stronger and more potent than the hash smoked by hippies in the sixties – or made it available for medical use. The team, led by Dr Jules R Dugre, said existing evidence on the links between cannabis and violence was ‘limited’ but their project had ‘clinical and violence risk management implications’. Kathy Gyngell, a fellow of the Centre for Policy Studies think-tank, welcomed the ‘definitive study’ and called for official action. ‘Government has been seriously negligent,’ she said. More than 20 US states have in recent year’s legalised cannabis for medical purposes. Four states, Colorado, Alaska, Oregon and Washington have allowed its recreational use. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-4950206/Smoking-cannabis-DOES-make-people-violent.html USA – FDA warns marijuana companies marketing unproven cancer products The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) issued warning letters to four companies illegally selling products online that claim to prevent, diagnose, treat, or cure cancer without evidence to support these outcomes. In their statement it said this a violation of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, and put patients at risk in using products not proven to be safe or effective.“The deceptive marketing of unproven treatments may keep some patients from accessing appropriate, recognized therapies to treat serious and even fatal diseases.” The FDA has grown increasingly concerned at the proliferation of products claiming to treat or cure serious diseases like cancer. Cannabidiol (CBD), a component of the marijuana plant that is not FDA approved is marketed in a variety of product types, such as oil drops, capsules, syrups, teas, and topical lotions and creams. “We don’t let company’s market products that deliberately prey on sick people with baseless claims” said FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, M.D. “There are a growing number of effective therapies for many cancers. Commissioner Gottlieb added. “We recognize that there’s interest in developing therapies from marijuana and its components, but the safest way for this to occur is through the drug approval process, not through unsubstantiated claims made on a website.” https://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm583295.htm USA – Teen alcohol/marijuana users get poorer grades, are more aggressive Scientists followed marijuana and alcohol use among 6500 teenage students in the USA over a seven year longitudinal study for the RAND Corporation. Youths aged 11 to 17 were required to complete surveys between middle and high school. Researchers found these learners had worse grades and delinquent aggressive behavior. Lead author of the study and behavioral scientist Dr Elizabeth D’Amico said that the study showed alcohol and marijuana use were issues that needed to be tackled early on in life, especially in Asian, black and Hispanic students. To highlight the dangers of cannabis and alcohol use in young adults; users ended up in lower social classes, worked in less skilled jobs and were more aggressive. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-3640514/Why-parents-really-right-Teenagers-use-alcohol-smoke-weed-poorer-grades.html#ixzz4y0KTEGQ4 Disclaimer: the views and opinions expressed in these articles do not necessarily reflect those of Doctors for Life International]]>LIFEalerts 25 October 2017
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South Africa – Political party seeks to repeal abortion act USA – Two states ban abortion on pain-capable babiesUSA – What really happens inside an abortion clinic? UK – Woman changed her mind about abortion |
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No news today |
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Canada – Nine out of ten Quebec caregivers support MAiD for the demented |
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USA – Sperm bank adds criminal check and psych assessment |
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Canada – Embryo gene-editing: Ethicists urge caution Australia – Children can write their own advance care directives in Victoria |
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UK – Police go online to track down paedophiles |
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UK – Increase in child-on-child sex abuse USA – Sexting Bill to give young people a second chance |
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| USA – CDC latest report shows a rise in STDs
Serbia – Urologist informs an increase in sex-change regret
Malaysia – Health Department discusses new HIV trend
UK – More young people regret sex-change surgery |
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| India – Experts fear legalization of child labour New Zealand – Ex-prostitute opposes the decriminalization of prostitution USA – Knowingly exposing others to HIV no longer a felony in California Netherlands – Country fails to regulate human trafficking | |
| No news today |
Abortion
South Africa – Political party seeks to repeal abortion act
The African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) of South Africa is proposing amendments to the Choice on Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1996 and to repeal the Choice on Termination of Pregnancy Amendment Act, 2004. Some of these amendments include making every risk of the abortion procedure known to the woman; substitute the meaning of gestation period to being the first day of the menstrual period in relation to pregnancy and to confirm it with an ultrasound. Also to ensure access to ultrasounds, and counselling with referrals to a social worker that would help the pregnant woman get access to a social grant, safe housing or adoption services.
http://acdp.intohost.co.za/index.php?item_id=1138
USA – Two states ban abortion on pain-capable babies Washington DC and Iowa both ruled to ban abortion on babies that feel pain 20 weeks after gestation (half way through the pregnancy). Furthermore, Iowa also ruled in favour of a pro-life law in which the mother should wait 72 hours before deciding to end her baby’s life, and through an ultrasound have the opportunity to see and hear her baby’s heartbeat. https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/iowa-law-requiring-72-hour-waiting-period-upheld-in-loss-for-planned-parentUSA – What really happens inside an abortion clinic?
The Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene confirmed that an abortion clinic opened by late-term abortionist LeRoy Carhart is unlicensed and poses a great danger to the health and safety of women who seek abortions. Pro-life group Operation Rescue uncovered the location of the clinic and is warning the communities. Apparently Carhart has no admitting privileges at any hospital, and hasn’t since 1982. He has been aborting babies for nearly seven years in another town and at least 10 women were rushed to the hospital emergency room by ambulance because of the risky abortion procedures. One woman, Jennifer Morbelli, died from complications to a 33-week abortion.
UK – Woman changed her mind about abortion
The BBC interviewed a woman who changed her mind about abortion after a pro-life group called Abort67 offered help through handing out leaflets to the women at the clinic. The goal of this interview was to determine whether or not protests should be banned outside abortion clinics. Alina said she felt like abortion was her only option after Mary Stopes refused her any help or counseling like they advertise on their website. She explained that she finally felt like there was another option when a pro-life woman handed her a leaflet offering her help. Alina underlined that she did not feel pressurized by the approach in any way.
Alternative Medicine
No news today
Euthanasia
Canada – Nine out of ten Quebec caregivers support MAiD for demented
A new study claims that nine out of ten Quebec caregivers want to extend the province’s Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) law to patients with dementia. The study, presented by Université de Sherbrooke epidemiologist Gina Bravo, involved 302 caregivers from across Quebec. According to Bravo, 91{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} of respondents supported extending the law to patients with dementia, while 72{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} of respondents said they were favorable to it even in the absence of a written directive. Bravo said that the purpose of the study was not “to vote for or against [the issue]”, and she acknowledged that “the difficulties of applying such a law [i.e. one that permits MAiD for demented patients] cannot be ignored.”
https://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/nine-out-of-ten-quebec-caregivers-support-maid-for-the-demented-new-study/12470 http://www.newswire.ca/fr/news-releases/extend-medical-assistance-in-dying-to-incapacitated-persons-91-of-caregivers-asked-say-yes-646445683.html
IVF&Surrogacy
USA – Sperm bank adds criminal checks and psych assessment
California Cryobank has become the first to add clinical psychological assessment and criminal background checks to the donor screening process. “We believe in robust screening as well as quality informed consent”, says Cryobank Medical Director Jaime Shamonki. “Our screening process selects for the most committed, altruistic, and informed donors.” Cryobank’s move may be that Xytec Corp, an Atlanta sperm bank is being sued for misrepresenting the character of a donor whose sperm led to the birth of 36 children. He was described on Xytec’s website as a man with an IQ of 160, an internationally acclaimed drummer and PhD student in neuroscience engineering. In reality he was a convicted criminal with several mental illness diagnoses including schizophrenia, narcissistic personality disorder and grandiose delusions.
Medical Ethics
Canada – Embryo gene-editing: Ethicists urge caution
Writing in Impact Ethics, Francois Baylis of Dalhousie University and Alana Cattapan of the University of Saskatchewan describe current Canadian law — which prohibits altering “the genome of a cell of a human being or in vitro embryo such that the alteration is capable of being transmitted to descendants” — as in line with current “international standards”. “the prohibition on editing the human genome is consistent with international standards…Article 13 of the Oviedo Convention stipulates that: “An intervention seeking to modify the human genome may only be undertaken for preventive, diagnostic or therapeutic purposes and only if its aim is not to introduce any modification in the genome of any descendants””.
https://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/embryo-gene-editing-canada-v.-china/12459
Australia – Children can write their own advance care directives in Victoria
In a world first, the Australian state of Victoria is allowing children of any age to write their own advance care directive that doctors are obliged to follow. If a child has made a valid advance directive in which they have included instructions to refuse a particular medical treatment, such as dialysis or chemotherapy, a health practitioner must not provide that treatment. Writing in The Conversation, health law expert Carolyn Johnston said: “Parents want to protect their children and health-care practitioners want to do the best for their patients. Advance directives should be drafted as a collaboration between the child, health professionals and, ideally, parents. This will enable understanding of the possible treatment options, their benefits and harms, and the impact of refusing certain treatment, resulting in a meaningful and effective advance decision.” There has been significant debate amongst bioethicists about the “competency” of children when deciding about treatment options.
Pedophilia
UK – Police go online to track down paedophiles
The Paedophile Online Investigation Team (POLIT) is a special group of police who work 24/7 across the world to track down paedophiles who target youngsters online. They are a group of specialists that worked on rape cases and also technician specialists that can track down even the paedophiles that are savvy or intelligent. Whenever they suspect a child of being a target of a paedophile, they immediately visit the child and notify the parents. The sole purpose of POLIT is to focus on intervening predators who want to abuse children and stop it before it happens.
Pornography
UK – Increase in child-on-child sex abuse
In the last four years the United Kingdom has reported 30,000 instances of child-on-child sexual abuse, with annual numbers increasing by 71 percent. This information was collected from 38 police departments across England and Wales and it shows that sexual offenses by children under the age of 10 and below have doubled from 204 in 2013-2014 to 456 in 2016-2017. Of the 30,000 total reports, 74{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} were never pursued by police. Hundreds of students have also been suspended temporarily or even permanently for watching pornographic images.
http://dailycaller.com/2017/10/09/uk-reports-of-child-on-child-sex-abuse-are-skyrocketing/
USA – Sexting Bill to give young people a second chance
Ohio state representatives Brian Hill and Jeff Rezabek have co- sponsored a bill that would reduce penalties for young people under the age of 21 who create or posses or distribute sexually explicit material involving minors. House Bill 355 allows for the taking of sexually explicit photos through any telecommunications device not be criminally charged if it’s a first offense. The offender has to complete a sexting educational diversion program which is state funded. Although prosecutors feel that this bill is shielding sexual predators from prosecution, Hill said he was considering an amendment that would state a maximum age difference and the age limit. Predators shouldn’t escape punishment but kids who may not know better deserve a second chance.
Same Sex Attraction
USA – CDC latest report shows a rise in STDs The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a new report this year called Sexually Transmitted Disease Surveillance 2016. The report shows a spike in STDs in the US with the highest increase among people who practice homosexuality. In the case of Chlamydia, the men having sex with men (MSM) population begins to show a higher prevalence of the infection, starting at age 25. Regarding syphilis, the report said MSM also contributed to the consistent increase in the infection almost every year since 2001: “During 2000–2016, the rise in the P&S syphilis rate was primarily attributable to increased cases among men and, specifically, among MSM.” The report reveals that men account for 90 percent of all primary and secondary syphilis cases, and of these men, active homosexuals account for 80.6 percent of cases where the gender of the sexual partner was known. https://www.cdc.gov/std/stats16/CDC_2016_STDS_Report-for508WebSep21_2017_1644.pdf Serbia – Urologist informs an increase in sex-change regret Miroslav Djordievic an urologist in Belgrade that specializes in gender reassignment surgery warns of a rise in transgender patients that seek reversal surgeries. He performed seven reversal surgeries in the past five years and explains how patients who want to reverse the surgery show high levels of depression and suicidal thoughts. Other researchers report hearing the same such regrets. Charles Kane is one such example in a BBC documentary called One Life: Make me a Man Again, where he describes how female hormones made him want the surgery and all this after having a nervous breakdown. Djordievic is concerned over the psychiatric evaluation at other clinics because his patients tell him that they receive minimal information on the procedure. http://www.newsweek.com/transgender-women-transgender-men-sex-change-sex-reassignment-surgery-676777 Malaysia – Health Department discusses new HIV trend Dr. Rohaya Ramli a senior principal director (HIV/STI) of the Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya Health Department says HIV infections have declined in the country but, there is a new trend emerging. 65 percent of HIV infections are now contributed by homosexual and bisexual groups whereas heterosexual groups only account for 31 percent. Dr. Rohaya said the Health Ministry launched a campaign that aims to prevent and control the infection by focussing on the youth and high-risk groups which include prostitutes, homosexuals and drug users by urging them to take screening tests. http://english.astroawani.com/malaysia-news/homosexuals-bisexuals-biggest-hiv-contributors-expert-157558UK – More young people regret sex-change surgery
Psychotherapist James Caspian who works with transgender and transsexual people’ proposal to research the growing amount of transgender people who regret having the surgery was rejected by Bath Spa University in fear of controversy. Caspian told BBC Radio 4, the very purpose of a university is to encourage discussion, research and challenge ideas that are out of date or not useful. He said this research was needed because he found many young people are now regretting the surgery and some were even traumatised by it. Older studies on the subject were “out of date” and new research is important.
Sexual Exploitation
India – Experts fear legalization of child labour With the ever increasing number of unemployment in India experts fear that child labour is increasing quickly. Ruchira Gupta who represents Apne Aap Women Worldwide, an organization that works against sex trafficking in India says that there are two laws that have a very dangerous impact on the poorest girls. Firstly the law that legalized child labour in sectors such as family based enterprises and audio-visual entertainment, and the second law which is trying to delink trafficking from sexual exploitation. Combined these laws will make 80{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} of human trafficking victims for sexual and labour exploitation invisible. Data will show a decrease in human trafficking in India but it will increase the number of child laboures and prostituted children. Gupta was one of the representatives from the NGO sector who were allowed to speak at the high-level meeting of the UN General Assembly on human trafficking. http://www.indiatimes.com/news/india/recent-law-amendments-are-moving-towards-legalising-child-labour-in-india-fear-experts-330759.html New Zealand – Ex-prostitute opposes the decriminalization of prostitution BBC has recorded the testimony of Sabrinna Valisce from New Zealand who was a prostitute for over 25 years and why she regrets having lobbied for the decriminalization of prostitution. After experiencing abuse from her stepfather she looked for a better life on the streets selling sex to a man who offered her $100 for the act. In 1989 she was part of New Zealand Prostitutes Collective and was a supporter of the campaign for full decriminalization of all aspects of prostitution, including pimps. The Prostitution Reform Act proved to be a total disaster because it benefitted the brothel owners to offer buyers an “all-inclusive” deal that would mean women wouldn’t be able to set the price or determine which sexual services they offered and refused. During a shift at a brothel in Wellington she witnessed another prostitute experience a nervous breakdown after being shouted at by the owners for providing incomplete services to a buyer and this convinced her that Prostitutes Collective should be working on services to help get out, this was ignored. She left prostitution in early 2011, moved to Australia seeking a new direction in life and met women who were abolitionists, a model currently being considered by the UK’s Home Affairs Select Committee, which criminalizes the buyers and pimps while decriminalizing the prostituted person. Valisce has since set up a group called Australian Radical Feminists that assists women who have gone through the sex trade and has set up campaigns that expose the harms that prostitution brings. They are also determined to ensure that the women who were silenced by their abusers have a voice. http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-41349301 USA – Knowingly exposing others to HIV no longer a felony in California California lawmakers have passed legislation to reduce the penalty for those who knowingly or intentionally expose others to HIV without their knowledge, rolling back a law that mostly affected prostitutes. The bill, SB 239, which was approved by the Democrat-controlled state legislature in September and signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown, will lower the charges for these acts from a felony to a misdemeanour when the law goes into effect in 2018. The act of knowingly donating HIV-infected blood, also a felony now, will be decriminalized. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2017/10/09/knowingly-infecting-others-with-hiv-is-no-longer-a-felon Netherlands – Country fails to regulate human trafficking Over 6,000 people in the Netherlands are victims of human trafficking every year, two-thirds of whom are coerced into the sex trade, according to a new report from the national reporter on trafficking in human beings and sexual violence Dutch girls form the biggest group of victims, some 1,320 every year, but because they are more likely to be hidden victims, they don’t get the protection they need, the report states. It is the first time the Dutch organisation has published an estimate for the number of trafficking victims. The research was carried out together with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. Some 46{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} of cases involve coercion within the sex trade in the Netherlands itself and a further 21{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} stem from cross-border trafficking for the sex industry – mainly prostitution. Other areas of exploitation include forced labour and forced criminal activity. One in six victims is male, of whom over 50{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} have been brought to the Netherlands and forced to work or join criminal gangs, the report shows. The estimated total is over six times that of the actual number of reports, whose total fell 17{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} last year to 952. Human trafficking is not in decline. We now know that the number of victims is around 6,250 a year and this means an increasing number of cases are under the radar. This should lead the police to make extra capacity free to combat human trafficking, The number of people in the Netherlands found guilty of human trafficking went down 25{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} in 2016 to just 103, the NRC (Nieuwe Rotterdamsche Courant) said earlier this year. The maximum penalty for human trafficking was increased to 12 years in 2012 but the average sentence was 585 days. Just five suspects last year were jailed for more than 1,500 days and almost a quarter of suspects are eventually found not guilty, the paper said. http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives/2017/10/some-6000-people-a-year-in-the-netherlands-are-victims-of-trafficking/Substance Abuse
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Disclaimer: the views and opinions expressed in these articles do not necessarily reflect those of Doctors for Life International
]]>LIFEalerts 13 October 2017
USA – Abortion clinic closed permanently due to health standards
USA – Studies on victims of rape and abortion
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UK – Is fear of being a burden a good reason for assisted suicide?
USA – Assisted suicide push fails in New York
Netherlands – Will assisted suicide always provide a quick gentle death?
UK – Man with motor neuron disease patient loses assisted suicide bid
USA – The harmful medical outcome of surrogacy
USA – Survey: most Americans support editing the human genome
USA – First anti-ageing drugs ready for trial
USA – Wesley Smith on “justice for Jahi”
USA – Nurses Association endorses voluntary stopping of food and drink
Brazil – Therapy should be available for unwanted sexual desires
USA – Children removed from school that teaches transgenderism
USA – HBO TV Series Normalizes Sexual Violence
Germany – Country Introduces Unpopular Prostitution Law
USA – Researchers Say Bitcoin Data Could Help Spot Sex Traffickers
USA – NCOSE is building a movement to end online sex trafficking
USA – Reporting on prostitution reveals its true natureNo news today
Abortion
USA – Abortion clinic closed permanently due to health standards
An abortion clinic in Pennsylvania has closed permanently because it failed 44 pages of Health and Safety standards. Pennsylvania’s Health Department issued a deficiency report on the Women’s Center for using expired medical supplies, failing to keep record of patients receiving anaesthesia and failing to conduct legally required background checks on employees working with minors. In 2016 they had to send a 30-year-old woman to hospital in an ambulance because the abortion went wrong. The Center had no registered doctor or nurse to supervise women recovering from anaesthesia or the abortion procedure. Cheryl Sullenger, senior vice president at Operation Rescue said this was the same for abortion centres across America.
USA – Studies on victims of rape and abortion
Strong evidence from a scientific study titled “Associations between Intimate Partner Violence and Termination of Pregnancy” concluded that abortion is accompanied by “High rates of physical, sexual, and emotional interpersonal violence were found across six continents among women seeking termination of pregnancy”. Dr. Sandra Mahkom’s study found that 75 to 85 percent of impregnated rape victims did not have abortions. The Elliot Institute’s research found that the women who had abortions said they felt pressured by families and healthcare workers not because the women wanted the abortion but rather that they responded to the demands of others.
Alternative Medicine
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Euthanasia
UK – Is fear of being a burden a good reason for assisted suicide?
In Oregon, 48.9{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} of patients who ended their lives under the state’s assisted suicide act said that fear of being a burden was one of their reasons. We should be very worried by this, argues Charles Foster, a British medical ethicist, in the blog Practical Ethics. Foster goes on to argue that “The law should be framed in such a way as to encourage the attitudes in families and carers that make impossible the feeling, ‘I’m a burden’.”
USA – Assisted suicide push fails in New York
A New York Court has rejected a petition by three terminally ill patients to be allowed access to assisted suicide drugs. “The New York assisted suicide statutes apply to anyone who assists an attempted or completed suicide,” the court wrote in its unanimous decision. “There are no exceptions.” Assisted suicide and euthanasia are currently illegal in New York.
Netherlands – Will assisted suicide always provide a quick gentle death?
The gold standard for human experimentation is a randomly-assigned, double-blind, placebo-controlled study. Organizing such a study to assess the effectiveness of the lethal medications used for executions in the United States and for physician-assisted suicide (PAS), has significant ethical issues and so we need to rely on historical data. In the latest issue of the Journal of Law and the Biosciences, Sean Riley, an end-of-life researcher currently studying in the Netherlands reviews the patchy record of the drugs used in executions and PAS. He summarizes his findings as follows: The pervasive belief that these, or any noxious drugs are guaranteed to provide for a peaceful and painless death, must be dispelled.
UK – Man with motor neuron disease patient loses assisted suicide bid
A British court has once again supported a ban on assisted suicide. Noel Conway, a 67-year-old with motor neuron disease, had appealed to the court to allow him to die through assisted suicide when his health deteriorated. His legal argument was that the Suicide Act 1961, which sets out the law on assisted dying, is incompatible with Article Eight of the European Convention on Human Rights. His lawyers argued that the law should be changed to permit others to assist him to commit suicide without risking prosecution. However, after reviewing most of the recent developments in the assisted dying debate over the past four decades, three justices of the High Court rejected his claim.
IVF&Surrogacy
USA – The harmful medical outcome of surrogacy
Jennifer Lahl, R.N., M.A., president of The Center for Bioethics and Culture Network (CBC) has 25 years of experience as a paediatric critical care nurse, hospital administrator, and senior-level nursing manager. Quoting multiple studies, she explains how surrogacy is harmful to the surrogate because many embryos are transferred into the surrogate mother and as The British Journal of Medicine warns, “Multiple pregnancies are associated with maternal and perinatal complications such as gestational diabetes, fetal growth restriction and pre-eclampsia as well as premature birth.” Surrogacy often involves the use of donor eggs, and there have been no long-term studies of the effects of egg harvesting on the health of the young women who provide their eggs. This makes it impossible for women to give true, meaningfully informed consent relative to the health and psychological risks involved. In addition, the medical process required for egg retrieval is lengthy and there are known medical risks associated with each step. Risks include Ovarian Hyper Stimulation syndrome (OHSS) due to superovulation, loss of fertility, ovarian torsion, stroke, kidney disease, premature menopause, ovarian cysts, and in some rare cases, death.
http://cbc-network.org/pdfs/CBC-Lahl_Telling_the_Truth_about_Surrogacy_in_the_United_States.pdf
Medical Ethics
USA – Survey: most Americans support editing the human genome
A survey in the journal Science found that about two-thirds of American respondents support therapeutic editing in both cells that would be inherited and those that would not, with 65 percent of respondents supporting therapy in germline cells and 64 percent supporting therapy in somatic cells. When considering enhancement editing, however, support depended more upon whether the changes would affect future generations. Only 26 percent of people surveyed supported enhancement editing in heritable germline cells and 39 percent supported enhancement of somatic cells that would not be passed on to children. “A majority of people are saying that germline enhancement is where the technology crosses that invisible line and becomes unacceptable,” said author Dietram A. Scheufele.
https://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/survey-most-americans-support-editing-the-human-genome/12422
USA – First anti-ageing drugs ready for trial
Writing in the Journal of American Geriatrics this week, doctors from the Mayo Clinic and Scripps Research Institute outline a set of new clinical trial to test the efficacy and safety of “Senolytics”, a new class of drugs that target mechanisms in the ageing process. Senolytics target a process known as “cell senescence”, in which moribund cells begin to accumulate in different parts of the body and (in some cases) disrupt the functioning of healthy cells. Senescence is associated with failing heart health, osteoporosis, general run-of-the-mill frailty, and even cancer. Senolytic drugs trigger a specific gene that leads cells to die a normal death and prevents them from interfering with other cell functions. “This is one of the most exciting fields in all of medicine or science at the moment,” said Dr. James Kirkland, director of the Kogod Center on Aging at the Mayo Clinic and lead author of the new paper. The researchers argue that the new drugs “could transform geriatric medicine by enabling prevention or treatment of multiple diseases and functional deficits in parallel, instead of one at a time”.
https://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/first-anti-ageing-drugs-ready-for-trial/12419
USA – Wesley Smith on “justice for Jahi”
The legal dispute over Jahi McMath, a 13-year-old girl alleged to be brain dead has received renewed attention after a judge ruled she may in fact be alive. Bioethicist Wesley J Smith visited McMath in hospital and feels there is evidence to suggest she no longer meets the criteria for brain death. McMath appears to respond to requests from her mother to move her fingers, and video evidence suggests she is capable of other autonomous motory operations. “I am stunned that the medical and bioethics communities generally show such a pronounced lack of curiosity about Jahi’s situation…Perhaps it is just a case of “experts” not wanting to know, because if Jahi isn’t dead, it would have epochal legal, social, medical, and scientific ramifications.
https://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/wesley-smith-on-justice-for-jahi/12429
USA – Nurses Association endorses voluntary stopping of food and drink
Many patients require artificial nutrition and hydration (ANH) at the end of life. But what should medical staff do when a patient seeks to hasten death by having ANH withdrawn? Despite the ethical complexities, medical guidelines are vague and, in some cases, non-existent. But the American Nurses Association has issued a new position statement that categorically endorses “voluntary stopping of eating and drinking” (VSED). In the statement, the ANA asserts; “VSED at the end of life is used to hasten death, and is a reflection of autonomy and the patient’s desire for control.” According to the Association, VSED should be respected by nurses, as “patients who are at the end of life likely have reasons for stopping nutrition and hydration”.
https://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/american-nurses-association-endorses-vsed/12430
Pedophilia
Australia – Expert discusses paedophile behaviour Cyber Safety expert Susan McLean discusses the behaviour of paedophiles after Ben McCormack (a former Australian reporter) was caught by police sharing conversations with another man about how they sexually desire young boys on social media. McLean explains that paedophiles normalise what they do, don’t see it as wrong, only regret it when they are caught and even advise each other on how to get closer to young children. She says that some paedophiles operate in isolation, targeting children for grooming and try to solicit photos while a newer online breed, collects photos and videos of children but do not make contact. There are those who do make contact and finally you have those who like to connect with like-minded individuals. If paedophiles like the look of the child, they not only like naked pictures but also uniforms, swim suits, sports clothes etc. Parents need to understand this. It was discovered that Instagram, Facebook, Viber; online games like Minecraft and streaming apps are popular among paedophiles. http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/parenting/kids/gnoc-get-naked-on-cam-the-secret-world-of-australias-paedophiles/news-story/82052b43cc9139a72fa1d9105fb8e23fPornography
USA – Seeks to declare Porn a public health crisis Arkansas, Tennessee, South Dakota, and Utah have formally recognized the public health harms of pornography and Florida is soon to follow. According to bill H.R. 157 that Republican Ross Spano filed, pornography is “contributing to the hyper sexualisation” of adolescents and claims that kids who view adult content are at a higher risk of developing low self-esteem, eating disorders and a desire to engage in dangerous sexual behaviour. The bill therefore orders the state to also create “recovery programs” for porn-addicts and said there is a need for education, prevention, research and policy change to protect the citizens of the state. The National Center on Sexual Exploitation, the country’s leading anti-pornography organization applauds Rep. Ross Spano for this proposal. http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/sep/21/anti-porn-bill-touted-florida-senator/Same Sex Attraction
Brazil – Therapy should be available for unwanted sexual desires
Judge Waldemar Claudio de Carvalho issued a ruling that sided with a psychologist who lost her license in 2016 after working with at least one patient to overcome same-sex attraction. Austin Ruse, president of the Center for Family and Human Rights said to deny these rights to people seeking help is a strike at their freedom and that the Judge did the right thing. Pro-LGBT libertarians have argued in favour of allowing people to seek therapy for unwanted sexual attractions. Banning certain therapies is “actually censoring and forbidding types of discussion,” Scott Shackford wrote in Reason magazine in 2016.
USA – Children removed from school that teaches transgenderism
In California, 41 families have removed 73 children from school over a boy that was reintroduced to the children as a girl wearing a dress. The parents were not informed of this and their 5 year-olds were traumatized asking if they too will turn into the opposite sex. There is uncertainty of what exactly happened in the classroom and the school board along with the teacher refuse to disclose any information. California law requires parent notification and offers the parent to disallow their children to be part of sex education but the school refused to inform parents and rejected the parents request to be notified in the future.
Sexual Exploitation
USA – HBO TV Series Normalizes Sexual Violence
The HBO television series ‘The Deuce’ glorifies and normalizes sexual behaviours and violence. The main themes are pornography and prostitution where performers team up for very disturbing pornographic scenes that have graphic sexual content. The National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE) condemns HBO for building its business model on sexual violence and exploitation and is calling on it to remove the shows programming. Commenting about the show, Executive Director and Vice President of NCOSE, Dawn Hawkins, said producers of The Deuce would need to use mental art to convince themselves that this show is anything but beyond any reasonable degree of exploitative feelings of hatred directed at women. She added that the show will inevitably continue the cycle of degrading women, children and men who are real life victims of sexual violence and exploitation. It is not a documentary but is entertainment that normalizes the sexual exploitation of those who actually undergo the abuses of pornography and prostitution.
http://endsexualexploitation.org/hbo/
Germany – Country Introduces Unpopular Prostitution Law
Germany has passed a new prostitution law to fight human trafficking and exploitation. It calls for more control, more regulations and more penalties, which is not popular with the prostitution industry. According to the law, prostitutes must register with local authorities and seek a medical consultation from a public health service. Brothels or businesses that offer sex services will be required to apply for a permit that will only be granted if health, hygiene and room requirements are met. The law prohibits parties in which a prostitute must service several men concurrently and sex without a condom is prohibited. Furthermore, clients who knowingly make use of the services provided by people who have been forced into prostitution will be penalized. Even now that the law has been adopted, Germany still has no consensus on how to fight human trafficking in the industry, through counselling services and aid organizations.
http://www.dw.com/en/germany-introduces-unpopular-prostitution-law/a-39511761
USA – Researchers Say Bitcoin Data Could Help Spot Sex Traffickers
Bitcoin is often described as an anonymous way to pay online but a group of researchers says that data revealed through cryptocurrency’s might help track down sex traffickers. In a paper presented at the Association for Computing Machinery’ annual conference, researchers analyzed sex-related ads placed on the controversial classified listings site Backpage. They sought to locate groups of ads placed on the site by the same person, which they say could help investigators spot behavior that points to human trafficking and sex slavery.“Such a tool would allow officers to confidently use timing and location information to distinguish between ads posted by women voluntarily in this industry versus those by women and children forcibly tracked.”
https://www.fastcompany.com/40463805/researchers-say-bitcoin-data-could-help-spot-sex-traffickers
USA – NCOSE is building a movement to end online sex trafficking
The National Centre on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE) is the leading national organization combating all forms of sexual exploitation, and one of their foremost goals is amending Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA), which currently allows broad immunity to websites facilitating sex trafficking. NCOSE is making progress and building a swelling movement for change. Nearly 100 non-governmental organizations, 35 United States Senators, over 150 members of the U.S. Congress, and finally, influential corporations like Walt Disney and Oracle have joined their side of the debate.
http://endsexualexploitation.org/articles/thank-tech-company-standing-online-sex-trafficking/
USA – Reporting on prostitution reveals its true nature The United States of America has joined Germany in reporting and exposing the true harms of prostitution. In a special report in The Vindicator, reporters Jordyn Grzelewski and Joe Gorman placed a spotlight on what some wrongly call the ‘victimless crime’ of prostitution. The detailed report increases the focus on prostitution and human trafficking incidents in Ohio and also exposed the common myth that combating prostitution is a waste of public time and resources. Prostitution has proven links to sexual harassment, rape, verbal abuse, child-sex abuse to mention but a few and one can hardly call the crime victimless. A study in the Journal of Epidemiology shows that women in prostitution have the highest rates of rape and homicides of any group of women studied. In addition death among prostitutes is exceptionally high with leading causes ranging from drug ingestion, accidents and alcohol-related causes. Ohio ranks fifth in USA cases of human trafficking, 375 having been reported in 2016 which is a 400 percent increase since 2013. http://www.vindy.com/news/2017/sep/29/crackdown-on-prostitution-shows-true-nat/?printSubstance Abuse
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Disclaimer: the views and opinions expressed in these articles do not necessarily reflect those of Doctors for Life International
]]>Special LIFEalert 23 September 2017
1. American College of Physicians Reaffirms Opposition to Legalization of Physician-Assisted Suicide ACP also calls for improved hospice and palliative care In “Ethics and the Legalization of Physician-Assisted Suicide,” an updated paper published today in Annals of Internal Medicine, the American College of Physicians (ACP) reaffirmed its opposition to the legalization of physician-assisted suicide and affirmed a professional responsibility to improve the care of dying patients. ACP cites ethical arguments and clinical, policy, legal, and other concerns for its positions. “The American College of Physicians acknowledges the range of views on, the depth of feelings about, and the complexity of the issue of physician-assisted suicide,” said Jack Ende, MD, MACP, president, ACP. “But the focus at the end of life should be on efforts to prevent or ease suffering and on the often unaddressed needs of patients and families. As a society, we need to work to improve hospice and palliative care, including awareness and access.” A recent study found 90 percent of US adults do not know what palliative care is, but when told its definition, more than 90 percent said they would want it for themselves or family members if severely ill.2 Despite recent changes in the legal and political landscape and arguments by proponents, ACP finds ethical and other arguments against physician-assisted suicide to be the most compelling, including that physician-assisted suicide alters the physician’s role as healer and comforter and the medical profession’s role in society, and it affects trust in the patient-physician relationship and the profession. ACP published a position paper in 2001 opposing legalization of physician-assisted suicide. The issue has been reviewed and considered in multiple editions of the ACP Ethics Manual, now in its 6th edition. ”Ethics and the Legalization of Physician-Assisted Suicide” was developed in light of increasing calls for legalization, public interest in the topic, and continuing problems with access to palliative and hospice care, and considers clinical practice, ethics, law, and policy issues. The updated paper discusses the role of palliative and hospice care, explores the nature of the patient-physician relationship and the critical distinction between refusal of life-sustaining treatment and physician-assisted suicide, and provides recommendations to physicians for responding to patient requests for physician-assisted suicide, recognizing that some individual cases will be medically and ethically challenging. As noted in the paper, medical ethics and the law strongly support a patient’s right to refuse treatment, including life-sustaining treatment. The intent is to avoid or withdraw treatment judged by the patient as unduly burdensome and inconsistent with her health goals and preferences. Death follows naturally after the refusal due to underlying disease. Vigorous management of pain and symptoms such as nausea at the end of life is ethical and, indeed appropriate, even when the risk of shortening life is foreseeable, if the intent is to relieve those symptoms. ACP recognizes that improvements need to be made to fully realize the principles and practice of hospice and palliative care, including improving access to, financing of, and training in palliative care; improving hospital, nursing home, and at-home capabilities in delivering care; and encouraging advance care planning and openness to discussions about dying. ACP advises physicians to thoroughly discuss patient concerns and reasons for requests for physician-assisted suicide. The paper has a list of 12 steps that physicians should follow with all patients nearing the end of life. Requests for physician-assisted suicide are unlikely to persist when compassionate supportive care is provided, ACP says in the paper. “Through effective communication, high quality care, compassionate support, and the right resources for hospice and palliative care, physicians can help patients control many aspects of how they live out life’s last chapter,” Dr. Ende said. ACP has been long active in end-of-life care issues, with a prior series of consensus panel papers and “Communication about Serious Illness Care Goals: A Review and Synthesis of Best Practices;” content in the ACP Ethics Manual; advocacy on advance care planning, pain management, and other issues; and patient education materials. About the American College of Physicians The American College of Physicians is the largest medical specialty organization in the United States with members in more than 145 countries worldwide. ACP membership includes 152,000 internal medicine physicians (internists), related subspecialists, and medical students. Internal medicine physicians are specialists who apply scientific knowledge and clinical expertise to the diagnosis, treatment, and compassionate care of adults across the spectrum from health to complex illness. https://www.acponline.org/acp-newsroom/american-college-of-physicians-reaffirms-oposition-to-legalization-of-physician-assisted-suicide
2. American Psychiatric Association position on euthanasia
In the current edition of the Psychiatric Times, Dr Mark Konrad outlines the position of the American Psychiatric Association (APA) concerning euthanasia and assisted suicide. Dr Konrad explains: Early in December 2016, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) Board of Trustees passed an historic Position Statement that originated in the Assembly and was unanimously supported by the APA Ethics Committee: The APA, in concert with the American Medical Association’s position on Medical Euthanasia, holds that a psychiatrist should not prescribe or administer any intervention to a non-terminally ill person for the purpose of causing death. Some might be concerned that the position only prohibits euthanasia and assisted suicide for people who are not terminally ill. In fact, the APA statement has caused a stir in countries where euthanasia and/or assisted suicide have become legal. Dr Konrad states: People with non-terminal illnesses have been legally euthanized at their own request in several countries for nearly 15 years. This has included certain eligible patients who have only psychiatric disorders. In 2002, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg removed any distinctions between “terminal” and “non-terminal” conditions, and between physical suffering and mental suffering, for legally permitted PAS/E. That was when patients with psychiatric disorders became eligible for this “right” in these countries. Independent consultants have to declare their condition “untreatable,” and the patient needs to declare it to be “insufferable.” Dr Konrad then explains how people with non-terminal psychiatric conditions are approved for euthanasia in the Netherlands. In the Netherlands, for example, for psychiatric-only cases, at least 1 consultant is required, but 3 are suggested. At least one should be a psychiatrist but does not have to be. However, the patient can weigh in regarding the “untreatable” criterion as well. It is not based solely on what physicians have to offer, but on what the patient wishes to accept. For example, though potentially effective treatments may be offered, such as ECT, MAOIs, residential treatment, transcranial magnetic stimulation, and vagus nerve stimulation, “competent” patients may refuse these offers. That choice could make their case “untreatable.” So patients can rule on both the “untreatable” and “insufferable” axes; physicians can only opine on the former. In the Netherlands, lethal injections are the most commonly used method to fulfill an approved patient’s death wish. This is often administered by the patient’s treating psychiatrist at home, in the office, or in specialized Levenseinde Klinieks (End of Life Clinics). Between 2008 and 2014, more than 200 psychiatric patients were euthanized by their own request in the Netherlands (1{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} of all euthanasia in that country): 52{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} had a diagnosis of personality disorder, 56{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} refused one or more offered treatments, and 20{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} had never even had an inpatient stay (one indication of previous treatment intensity). When asked the primary reason for seeking PAS/E, 66{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} cited “social isolation and loneliness.” Despite the legal requirement for agreement between outside consultants, for 24{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} of psychiatric patients euthanized, at least one outside consultant disagreed. Some remarkable stories have been profiled in the Dutch media. For example, a woman was granted euthanasia for chronic PTSD due to childhood sexual abuse. The arguments based on personal autonomy to justify such access to PAS/E are being pushed even further in the Netherlands. Ministers of Health and Justice have proposed to their Parliament that criteria not be limited to medical conditions, but be extended to average citizens who feel they have lived “completed lives.” Dr Konrad then comments on euthanasia for psychiatric conditions in Belgium: From 2014 to 2015, 124 patients in Belgium were euthanized at their own request for psychiatric disorders. These patients had a wide range of psychiatric disorders: 4{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} had schizophrenia; 6{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4}, bipolar; 4{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4}, autism; 23{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4}, dementia; 31{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4}, depression; and 32{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4}, personality disorders (half of which were borderline disorder). In one Belgian series that covered 2007 to 2011, diagnoses also included substance abuse, autistic spectrum disorder, OCD, ADHD, dissociative disorder, and “complicated grief.” Prominent cases profiled in the Belgian media include a pair of deaf twins euthanized on request because they were going blind, a man with gender identity disorder who was unhappy with surgical results, and another man who sought euthanasia for ego-dystonic homosexuality. Dr Konrad then comments on the new Canadian law that permits euthanasia for psychiatric conditions. In the spring of 2016, at the instructions of their Supreme Court, the Canadian Parliament followed the course of these European countries. Physician-assisted suicide was legalized nationally, and terminal/non-terminal and physical/mental suffering distinctions were effaced. As in Europe, Canadian patients can refuse treatments that might forestall death —and still be eligible. However, thanks to the influence of the Prime Minister, Parliament stopped short of enacting its original intention to allow this for people with only psychiatric disorders. Not surprisingly, several cases of psychiatric patients are working their way through the Canadian courts, demanding that there be no such discrimination for psychiatric patients. One case that received particular attention was a woman with chronic conversion disorder, who successfully fought in the courts to overrule the proscription on PAS/E for psychiatric disorders in her case. Several psychiatrists supported her pursuit of this action. So that legal precedent is now in place in Canada. Dr Konrad then explains how the new California assisted suicide regulations open the door to assisted suicide for psychiatric conditions. Even with current laws, there are emerging regulations that directly affect psychiatric patients in those states that allow assisted suicide. The California Department of Mental Health has adopted a regulation that requires state psychiatric hospitals to provide assisted suicide services to committed patients, if terminally ill. Under this regulation, a court hearing must be held to determine whether the patient is qualified for release to obtain physician-assisted death, even over clinically based objections of the treating psychiatrist. If a patient is deemed eligible, and no outside physicians can be located, the facility must provide fatal care itself, within the hospital. Unlike refusing treatment for mental disorders, committed inpatients’ competent refusal of treatment for medical disorders (eg, diabetes) cannot be overridden, even if refusal may result in death —thus rendering their condition “terminal.” Dr Konrad then explains how the APA position may lead effect euthanasia and assisted suicide statutes world-wide. The APA position implies that, even where legal for the non-terminally ill, it is neither the duty of a psychiatrist to fulfill that right, nor is it ethically appropriate to do so. Some (in the Belgian press) have argued that an American association does not have a place in the discussion of medical and psychiatric practices, which make most sense when seen in the context of different cultures. However, there is an understanding in the domain of medical ethics that there are some principles that transcend cultures. The Ethics Committee of the World Psychiatric Association (WPA) has crafted a position similar to that of the APA, which will be submitted for a membership vote at the 2017 World Congress in Berlin. If endorsed, the WPA would be acknowledging that, on this particular issue, the ethical proscription against helping psychiatric patients to commit suicide may be so antithetical to the fundamental ethos of psychiatry that it should indeed be applied worldwide. There was a significant reaction in the Belgian and Netherlands media after the publication of the APA position. Further to that, in Canada there is significant debate as to whether euthanasia should be permitted for psychiatric reasons alone. Finally, the APA position protects psychiatrists who do not agree with killing their depressed or mentally ill patients. Thank you to the APA for creating a path that may lead to the end of killing people with psychiatric conditions. http://alexschadenberg.blogspot.co.za/2017/02/american-psychiatric-association.html?utm_source=News+{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4}26+Information+Website&utm_campaign=3cdf6a0876-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_09_22&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b9d6bb980e-3cdf6a0876-198483333 Disclaimer: the views and opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of Doctors for Life International]]>LIFEalerts 15 September 2017
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Iceland – Nearly 100{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} of Down syndrome babies terminated |
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USA – Patients choosing alternative cancer therapy double risk of death Asia – Use of alternative medicine does more harm than good |
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Canada – Financial suicide -euthanasia’s true color Netherlands – Dutch right-to-die group confirms elder abuse risk |
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Cyprus – Tandem IVF: anything to guarantee a baby |
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China – Scientists one step closer to interspecies organ transplants Australia – Anti-vaxxer resistance movement hits headlines |
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Uganda – Country establishes secretariat to enforce pornography laws |
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No news today |
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USA – Exposing the connections between forms of sexual exploitation |
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Scotland – Heroin and methadone overdoses in Scotland hit record high |
Abortion
Iceland – Nearly 100{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} of Down syndrome babies terminated
In Iceland Down syndrome abortions are probably the highest in the world at nearly 100{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4}. The rate in the US is 67 percent (1995-2011); in France 77{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} (2015); and in Denmark 98{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} (2015). “It reflects a relatively heavy-handed genetic counseling,” says Kari Stefansson, the founder of deCODE Genetics, a world-renowned genetics database. “And I don’t think that heavy-handed genetic counseling is desirable. … You’re having impact on decisions that are not medical, in a way.” He went on to say, “I don’t think there’s anything wrong with aspiring to have healthy children, but how far we should go in seeking those goals is a fairly complicated decision.”
https://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/iceland-nearly-100-of-down-syndrome-babies-terminated/12391
Alternative Medicine
USA – Patients choosing alternative cancer therapy double risk of death
A recent study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute said patients who chose alternative therapies double their risk of death. The researchers on the study gathered information from 840 patients diagnosed between 2004 and 2013 in the National Cancer Database. The team found that patients who received alternative medicine had a two and a half times greater risk of dying during the five and a half year follow-up period than those who chose conventional methods. Dr. David Gorski, a surgical oncologist at the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute says the new study has “limitations,” including the possibility that the use of conventional medicine is likely to have been under-counted since some patients who choose alternative medicine ultimately, “come back to conventional medicine.
Asia – Use of alternative medicine does more harm than good
When a mysterious illness strikes people may become more open to using complementary and alternative medicine to get well. Two recent studies done in Singapore led by Dr Manjari Lahiri, author and a senior consultant at National University Hospital’s division of rheumatology show the widespread use of CAM among people and conclude that CAM may sometimes do more harm than good and it delays early treatment of diseases. In the study of 180 patients with early inflammatory arthritis, 74 patients (41 per cent) used CAM before seeing a specialist. The median time from symptom onset to starting the first dose of anti-rheumatic medication was 15.6 weeks for non-CAM users and 21.5 weeks for CAM users.
http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/more-harm-than-good
Euthanasia
Canada – Financial suicide -euthanasia’s true colors
Dr Tanja Daws from British Columbia claimed that it was “not sustainable” to continue killing people under the law. “It’s not for lack of wanting but it’s financial suicide”, she said. And Dr Jesse Pewarchuk, will no longer be accepting referrals as it is “economically untenable”. Dr Pewarchuk, who has reportedly helped 20 people commit suicide, said: “I unfortunately can no longer justify including it in my practice”. Alex Schadenberg, Executive Director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, has slammed the euthanasia lobby for complaining “that it doesn’t pay enough”. Although they claimed that legalisation of assisted suicide and euthanasia could save more than $100 million per year for the Canadian health care system.
http://www.christian.org.uk/news/pay-us-money-killing-people-say-canadian-doctors/
Netherlands – Dutch right-to-die group confirms elder abuse risk
The Netherlands legalised both euthanasia and assisted suicide in 2002 and the data shows an overwhelming preference for euthanasia. Again, like Nitschke (who once said: “There will be some casualties…”), The Co-operative Last Will organisation is frank about the possible collateral damage and realizes that it involves risks. An extreme consequence could be that children give the means to their old and wealthy parents because they want to claim their inheritance. Robbing oneself of life is suicide and elder abuse to death is murder. Who would ever know, but collateral damage it will be. Far from stopping Dutch “right-to-die” types in their tracks, such an acknowledgement seems more about deflecting criticism than it is about protecting Dutch citizens from abuse.
IVF&Surrogacy
Cyprus – Tandem IVF: anything to guarantee a baby
“Tandem IVF” seems to be the latest suite of techniques to attract older women with low fertility to clinics. One or more embryos created with the older woman’s eggs are combined with embryos created with a donor’s eggs. In this way, even if the mother’s embryos do not survive, the donor’s will and the rate of success will be much higher. Two optional services are offered by some clinics in conjunction with tandem IVF. In cytoplasmic tandem IVF”: the nucleus of the mother’s egg is injected into an enucleated donor egg to rejuvenate it, which is banned in the United States. Second, foetal reduction – if all of the implanted embryos implant and develop the mother might only want the baby from her own embryo, then some clinics offer to abort the baby, or babies, created with donor eggs. Ethically, this is an extremely controversial way of dealing with the issue of multiple births.
https://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/anything-to-guarantee-a-baby/12404
Medical Ethics
China – Scientists one step closer to interspecies organ transplants
A landmark study has reopened the door for xenotransplantation research (interspecies transplants). A team of Chinese and US scientists reported in Science that they had successfully used CRISPR technology to “splice out” 25 porcine endogenous retroviruses from the genetic code of 37 piglets. Scientists now believe that pig organs can be edited to prevent rejection when transplanted into the human body. Co-author Dr Luhan Yang said “We know we have an audacious vision of a world with no shortage of organs, that is very challenging, but that is also our motivation to remove mountains.” The next stage of the research will be to essentially “humanize” the pigs, modifying them enough that their organs can function in the human body.
https://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/scientists-one-step-closer-to-interspecies-organ-transplants/12384
Australia – Anti-vaxxer resistance movement hits headlines
The Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) is investigating claims of an “underground network of anti-vaccination doctors” that have “helped hundreds of families avoid compulsory immunizations”. In 2016 the Government introduced controversial legislation making access to childcare services and welfare payments conditional on the vaccination of children. Dr Margie Danchin, Senior Research Fellow at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, said that the current system is placing severe pressure on doctors and families: “What we need is fairer polices that are less punitive that remind and encourage all parents to vaccinate, whilst retaining non-medical exemptions but making them very hard to get! That is, an exemption signed every year by the families’ GP stating their reasons not to vaccinate.”
https://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/anti-vaxxer-resistance-movement-hits-headlines-in-australia/12406
Pedophilia
No news today
Pornography
Uganda – Country establishes secretariat to enforce pornography laws
Uganda has one of the strictest anti-pornography laws in Africa and has set up a nine-member pornography control committee to wage war on the spread of pornographic material in the country, which has been blamed for the spread of HIV and a high dropout rate for girls in school. The committee will not only raise awareness about the dangers of pornography but it will also set about destroying adult material and apprehending anybody in possession of pornography, which could be met with a jail sentence of up to 10 years. The legislation covers a range of issues like child pornography, pornographic publications and even suggestive music videos and revealing clothing.
https://meetsmedia.com/world-today/father-lokodo-uganda-has-set-up-a-secretariat-to-enforce-laws-on-pornography.html
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/ugandas-porn-patrol-jail-users-10-years-adult-content-blamed-homosexuality-1637292
Same Sex Attraction
No news today
Sexual Exploitation
USA – Exposing the connections between forms of sexual exploitation
Dawn Hawkins from the National Centre for Sexual Exploitation met a young girl who shared with her that after sending her boyfriend sexts that he threatened to share the sexts with her parents, teachers, and friends if she didn’t do as he instructed. He went on to sell her for sex again and again to his friends and strangers. The use of sexting and so-called revenge pornography as a form of sexual extortion is sometimes a tactic used by traffickers. In the Journal of Adolescence it indicated that, “Offline sexual coercion was significantly associated with sending and being asked for a naked image, as well as receiving a naked image without giving permission”. This demonstrates that sexting is sometimes “an online extension of offline forms of sexual coercion”.
http://pornharmsresearch.com/2017/07/cant-wait-exposing-connections-forms-sexual-exploitation/
Substance Abuse
Scotland – Heroin and methadone overdoses in Scotland hit record high
Scottish Government figures show 2,507 people required hospital treatment for overdosing on opioid drugs in 2016, equating to nearly 50 a week and 133 more than 2015. This makes it the highest number since records began in 1999. Figures also show 867 drug deaths in Scotland last year, a 23{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} increase on the previous year and the worst figure on record. Opioids were implicated in, 765 (88{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4}) of these deaths. Scottish Conservative health spokesman Miles Briggs said: “We need a new strategy urgently to help these vulnerable people beat this lethal habit for good.” Scotland’s harm reduction approach of providing free long-term use of methadone to heroin addicts has been widely criticized as merely “parking” heroin addicts on methadone. This so-called substitution therapy is costing Scotland tax payers millions of pounds a year.
Disclaimer: the views and opinions expressed in these articles do not necessarily reflect those of Doctors for Life International
]]>LIFEalerts 25 August 2017
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USA – Texas permanently bans taxpayer funding of abortion USA – Google and Facebook Protesting Women’s Health Care Clinic |
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USA – FDA Links Naturopathic Turmeric Death to Contaminated Product |
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Netherlands – Latest end-of-life statistics from the Netherlands New Zealand – 80 percent of respondents against legalizing assisted suicide |
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India – Commercial surrogacy still thriving in India |
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USA – New York doctor told to stop marketing 3-person IVF technique UK – Avoiding the next Charlie Gard dispute USA – Has the venerable Belmont Report passed its use-by date? |
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| No news today | |
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Israel – Government takes a hard stance on internet censorship UK – New UK law to block all adult content from the web USA – Children must learn about the consequences of sexting |
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| USA – Psychological analyses of Gender Dysphoria
Australia – Eight major twin studies prove homosexuality is not genetic |
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| USA – New bill to curb human trafficking epidemic USA – Bringing sex trafficking of males out of the shadows | |
| USA – FDA Approves Syndros, First Liquid Form of Cannabinoid Dronabinol USA – Taking dagga for pain is just wishful thinking |
Abortion
USA – Texas permanently bans taxpayer funding of abortion
Gov. Greg Abbott has signed a bill to restrict state funding for abortion insurance. “As a firm believer in Texas values I am proud to sign legislation that ensures no Texan is ever required to pay for a procedure that ends the life of an unborn child,” Gov. Abbott said. “This bill prohibits insurance providers from forcing Texas policy holders to subsidize elective abortions. I am grateful to the Texas legislature for getting this bill to my desk and working to protect innocent life this special session. HB-214, which the Senate approved, applies to “elective” abortions and specifically includes an exemption for cases of medical emergency to save the mother’s life.
USA – Google and Facebook Protesting Women’s Health Care Clinic
Facebook and Google are co-sponsoring Netroots Nation, an annual gathering of progressive activists and political leaders who are targeting pro-life organization, Human Coalition, and the health care clinics they operate under the name Cura, which provide free medical services and counseling for women with unplanned pregnancies. Google and Facebook are listed as “premier sponsors” of Netroots, alongside far-left organizations like Planned Parenthood. The protest is titled, “Get Fake Clinics Out Of Atlanta!” The organizers appear particularly disturbed by Human Coalition’s use of prayer: their description of the protest includes two direct references to the advocacy group’s promotion of prayers for women considering abortions.
Alternative Medicine
USA – FDA Links Naturopathic Turmeric Death to Contaminated Product
Jade Erick, 30, died after California naturopathic doctor, Kim Kelly, gave her an intravenous preparation of curcumin. An FDA report found that Imprimis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IMMY), a compounding pharmacy based in San Diego, California, mixed the curcumin emulsion product used in Ms. Erick’s treatment with ungraded castor oil that had a warning label stating, “CAUTION: For manufacturing or laboratory use only.” The FDA found Diethylene Glycol in the lot of castor oil used in the curcumin emulsion made by Imprimis. Curcumin is a trendy yet ineffective substance for treating any medical condition. But this does not seem to deter Imprimis from listing its curcumin product under the oncology section of its website.
Euthanasia
Netherlands – Latest end-of-life statistics from the Netherlands
Here are statistics from the Netherlands based on the latest figures from 2015. Nearly one death in 20 (4.5{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4}) is now due to euthanasia. The figures come from a letter in the latest issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. “It looks like patients are now more willing to ask for euthanasia and physicians are more willing to grant it,” said lead author Dr. Agnes van der Heide, of Erasmus University Medical Center in Rotterdam. But the statistics for euthanasia only masks the proportion of end-of-life decisions in the Netherlands. The figures for some categories overlap, but 4.5{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} of all deaths happened through euthanasia, 0.1{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} through physician-assisted suicide and 18.3{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} through “continuous deep sedation”.
https://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/latest-end-of-life-statistics-from-the-netherlands/12378
New Zealand – 80 percent of New Zealanders are against legalizing assisted suicide
Eighty percent of New Zealanders who responded to a petition on the issue of ending one’s life were opposed to legalizing assisted suicide and euthanasia. The results were part of a report composed in response to a petition presented to the government in June 2015 by past Minister of Parliament, Maryan Street. Opposition was largely based on concerns about vulnerable people, especially the elderly, disabled and those with mental illnesses. The Committee also noted that some “argued that life has an innate value and that introducing assisted dying and euthanasia would explicitly undermine that idea.”
IVF&Surrogacy
India – Commercial surrogacy still thriving in India
Surrogacy scandals about “baby factories” are still making headlines in India. Police raided a fertility clinic in an up-market suburb in Hyderabad and found 47 pregnant women living a two-storey dwelling. The clinic did not allow them to leave the building until they had delivered their babies. “The women were all huddled in one large room and had access to just one bathroom,” a police officer said. Pinki Virani, an activist who recently wrote a book on assisted reproduction, has urged the government to speed up regulation: … we don’t even know if some of the intending babies from those victims of human trafficking were actually meant to be sold for the internet-infant-porn market.
https://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/commercial-surrogacy-still-thriving-in-india/12377
Medical Ethics
USA – Has the venerable Belmont Report passed its use-by date?
The 1979 Belmont Report by the National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioral Research laid the foundations for bioethics standards in the United States the world. It identified three core principles: respect for persons, beneficence, and justice and three areas where ethical analysis was particularly needed: informed consent, assessment of risks and benefits, and selection of subjects. But this was nearly 40 years ago. Is it time for an overhaul? Yes, according to a leading American bioethicist, Art Caplan and three colleagues writing in the American Journal of Bioethics: The authors identify five areas which are poorly served by the Belmont Report’s standards: the line between research and practice is insufficient; unique harms to communities remain unacknowledged; failure to address transparency; the report’s focus on protectionism is incompatible with today’s emphasis on participation; and how the ethical principles are applied. The authors conclude: “Considering the important role the Belmont Report has played and continues to play in research ethics today it is time for a tune-up, if not a complete overhaul.”
https://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/has-the-illustrious-belmont-report-passed-its-use-by-date/12388
UK – Avoiding the next Charlie Gard dispute
After the passing of British infant Charlie Gard who was at the centre of a treatment dispute that made international headlines, Dominic Wilkinson of the Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics argues In the British Medical Journal that “the court of public opinion is surely the worst possible place for ethically complex decisions”. The editors of The Lancet agree with Wilkinson, “Charlie’s legacy could include further work on best practice guidelines for mediation between clinical teams and parents, agreement on a framework for use of experimental treatment, appropriate and timely focus on palliative and hospice care, and encouragement to clinicians offering alternative treatment to ensure they have full knowledge of the facts of the case.”
https://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/avoiding-the-next-charlie-gard-dispute/12374
USA – New York doctor told to stop marketing 3-person IVF technique
A New York IVF clinic has been told by the US Food and Drug Administration to stop marketing Mitochondrial Replacement Therapy (MRT) – an experimental procedure that aims to prevent defective mitochondrial-DNA from being passed on to children. While MRT is prohibited in the US, Dr. Zhang, who last year delivered the first “three parent baby”, and colleagues have set up the New Hope Fertility Clinic in Guadalajara, Mexico. The FDA ordered Zhang to stop advertising the procedure. FDA officials listed several claims made on the New Hope website that needed to be removed immediately. The procedure is not approved in the U.S., and Congress has barred the FDA from even reviewing proposals to conduct MRT trials.
Pedophilia
Pornography
Israel – Government takes a hard stance on internet censorship
The Israeli government has approved a law that allows the court-ordered blocking or removal of internet sites promoting criminal or terrorist activity online. The law targets illegal gambling websites, prostitution and child pornography advertisements, online dealing of hard drugs and the websites of terror groups. The new law will give the police the necessary tools to fight criminals, felons, and inciters who have moved their activities online. Any operators found to be failing to comply with the court order will be imprisoned for two years, according to the new piece of legislation.
https://www.gamblinginsider.com/news/3734/israel-takes-a-hard-stance-on-internet-censorship
UK – New UK law to block all adult content from the web
The UK government has announced an update to the Digital Economy Act which will mean those wanting to view pornographic material online must prove they are 18 or over. Verifying one is over 18 using the electoral roll or mobile phone contract provider have been suggested as possible methods. The UK will then have the most robust internet child protection measures of any country in the world. Online pornography has been seen by 65{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} of 15-16 year olds and 48{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} of 11-16 year olds, 28{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} have stumbled across pornography while 19{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} had searched for it deliberately according to a National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children report in 2016.
http://www.express.co.uk/life-style/science-technology/829998/Porn-online-pornography-UK-law-ban
USA – Children must learn about the consequences of sexting
According to Michael Rourke, Weld Country district attorney, the “birds and the bees” talks by parents to their children must make room for teaching children about the consequences of sexting. Beyond the emotional impacts juvenile sexting creates it also raises legal implications. As from January 2018 penalties for these kind of crimes begin at a $50 fine or a required education program regarding the risks and consequences of sexting and escalates to 18 months in a community youth corrections facility and up to a $5,000 fine. Legally, those under the age of 18 who send pornographic images of themselves or other juveniles are disseminating child pornography. Sexting is the sending and receiving of nude images or videos through electronic means.
http://www.greeleytribune.com/news/opinion/rourke-time-to-learn-about-juvenile-sexting-law-is-now/
Same Sex Attraction
USA – Psychological analyses of Gender Dysphoria In June 2017, Dr. Michelle Cretella from The American College of Paediatricians (ACP) released a report called Gender Dysphoria in Children. They say that it is wrong to encourage children to believe that they were born in the wrong body. Dr. Cretella explained that infants are not born with the brains of the opposite sex; the male infant brain is masculinized prenatally by testosterone whereas the female brain is not. The youth is struggling with their sexual identity because of outside factors. Dr. Cretella explains that boys have a tendency to be more feminized due to a lack of a proper relationship with their father. There have been cases where girls are afraid of their father who demonstrate volatile anger and abuse towards the mother, as a result of this a girl may perceive being female as unsafe and psychologically defend against this by feeling like she is really a boy, subconsciously believing that if she were a boy… she would be safe from and loved by her Father. https://youtu.be/2GIFck6RXLgAustralia – Eight major twin studies prove homosexuality is not genetic
In 1991, Australia conducted the first major and reliable identical twins study. In 1997, the U.S. conducted another large study. In 2000, the U.S. and Australia did more twin studies and several studies after that by Scandinavia. All these studies come to the same conclusion that Same Sex Attraction (SSA) is not a genetic condition. SSA stems from factors after birth. For example, one twin might have exposure to pornography or sexual abuse, but not the other. One twin may interpret and respond to their family or classroom environment differently than the other. “These individual and idiosyncratic (unique to the individual) responses to random events and to common environmental factors predominate,” says Dr. Neil Whitehead, PhD. Dr. Whitehead has worked for the New Zealand government for 24 years as a scientific researcher. He explains that identical twins have the same DNA, if homosexuality is a genetic condition, then both twins should be homosexual and not only one. Neutral academic surveys show that half of the homosexual/bisexual population (without reparative therapy or counselling) moves towards heterosexuality over a lifetime. In other words, ex-homosexuals outnumber actual homosexuals.
Sexual Exploitation
USA – New bill to curb human trafficking epidemic The House of Representatives recently approved an anti-trafficking bill (H.R. 2200) which allocates over $500 million over four years for domestic and international programs to support victims and persons vulnerable to human trafficking. The bill will focus on assistance such as trauma-informed care, long-term housing options and the prevention of child sex trafficking. The bill highlights the importance of workforce training in industries that come into contact with trafficking victims, calling for standard training of airline pilots and flight attendants, as well as incentivizing hotels to train staff to spot signs of trafficking. The fact that H.R. 2200 passed with no recorded opposition is a testament to the fact that human trafficking is being increasingly recognized as a problem. http://allafrica.com/stories/201708030567.html USA – Bringing sex trafficking of males out of the shadows Popular culture rarely acknowledges that boys and men are also victims of sexual abuse and exploitation. Anna Smith, executive director of Restore One, an organization dedicated to helping in the recovery of boys who have been trafficked. Smith was unaware of the sexual victimization of males until she started working with survivors and hearing their stories. She was shocked to hear of males being sold online on Rentboy.com and how little attention the media paid to the issue. She reports that males who experience sexual abuse and report it are often met with disbelief from authorities, medical professionals, and even family members. Smith draws attention to the disturbing lack of programs focused on helping males and the change that needs to be made. http://endsexualexploitation.org/articles/bringing-sexual-abuse-exploitation-boys-men-shadows/ <Back to Top>Substance Abuse
USA – FDA Approves Syndros, First Liquid Form of Cannabinoid Dronabinol Available by prescription only, Syndros is manufactured by Insys Therapeutics, and is approved to treat patients with AIDS who are experiencing anorexia and weight loss, as well as for people with cancer who are undergoing chemotherapy and suffer from nausea and vomiting that has not responded to conventional antiemetic treatments. The hope is that Syndros, or other similar drugs, will prove to be valuable alternatives to opioids for the management of chronic pain, Dr. Raskin said. “Taking a product like Syndros would also likely be safer for pain patients than using medical marijuana, since it is manufactured in a safe and highly regulated environment, while the quality of products purchase through a medical marijuana dispensary can have poor quality control”. https://www.practicalpainmanagement.com/resources/news-and-research/fda-approves-syndros-first-liquid-form-cannabinoid-dronabinol USA – Taking dagga for pain is just wishful thinking People using dagga for chronic pain rely more on anecdotal accounts than scientific evidence. US researchers reviewed 27 chronic pain trials in the Annals of Internal Medicine to see whether treating adults with cannabis benefitted or harmed them and found “low strength evidence” they alleviate nerve pain. Up to half of South Africans live in pain every day‚ said Professor Romy Parker‚ director of the Chronic Pain Management Unit at UCT’s Department of Anaesthesia and Perioperative Medicine. “Pain is a big problem in South Africa. Up to 74{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} of women with HIV are living with pain. The researchers found cannabis use in the general population could increase risk for harms‚ including motor vehicle accidents‚ psychotic symptoms‚ and short-term cognitive impairment. https://www.timeslive.co.za/sunday-times/lifestyle/health-and-sex/2017-08-15-taking-dagga-for-pain-is-just-wishful-thinking-say-us-researchers/Disclaimer: the views and opinions expressed in these articles do not necessarily reflect those of Doctors for Life International
]]>LIFEalerts 11 August 2017
UK – Government to spend £1 Billion Promoting Abortion Worldwide
Ireland – ‘We can do better’ than ‘killing children before they are born’
Ghana – Expedite passage of the alternative medicine bill
Netherlands – Latest end-of-life statistics from the Netherlands
No news today
USA – First American success with editing human embryos
UK – Charlie Gard dies in London hospice
USA – Doctors include contraceptive counseling in adolescent consultations
USA – Human embryos modified to eliminate a single-gene disease
USA – Homeless problem may be triggered by marijuana laws
USA – Conflict in Government on Marijuana policy Mexico – Mexico legalizes medical marijuanaAbortion
UK – Government to spend £1 Billion Promoting Abortion Worldwide
International Development Secretary Priti Patel said at a Family Planning Summit held in London that the UK Government’s spending on family planning will be an average of £225 million per year until 2022, an additional £45 million a year for 5 years. Ms Patel later confirmed this sum would include the provision of ‘safe abortion’ in developing countries. The London Summit is co-hosted by Ms Patel, Melinda Gates (Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation) and Natalia Kanem (UN Population Fund UNFPA).
http://www.lifenews.com/2017/07/11/uk-will-spend-over-1-billion-promotion-abortion-worldwide/
Ireland – ‘We can do better’ than ‘killing children before they are born’ Over 70,000 people took to the streets of Dublin, Ireland, to tell the government not to repeal the 8th amendment to the Irish Constitution. The 8th amendment gives an equal right to life to both pregnant women and their preborn children. Pro-life groups in attendance included the Life Institute, Youth Defense, and the Northern Ireland group Precious Life. “This is an incredible, powerful day, when massive crowds of ordinary people turned out to Save the 8th, to say no to abortion and yes to Life,” Niamh Ui Bhriain of the Life Institute said.
https://www.liveaction.org/news/80000-rally-ireland-life/
Alternative Medicine
Ghana – Expedite passage of the alternative medicine bill
The President of the Alternative Medicine Association of Ghana (AMAG), Dr Raphael Nyarkotey Obu, has called for the creation of a ministry for traditional and alternative medicine. He also urged Parliament to expedite action on the passage of the alternative medicine bill which is currently before the house, saying that would provide the legal backing for the mainstreaming of alternative medicine and ensure best practices by practitioners. Dr Obu further asked for the AMAG to be given a slot on the Food and Drugs Board to ensure that quality standards in alternative medicine were enhanced.
Euthanasia
Netherlands – Latest end-of-life statistics from the Netherlands
Here are statistics from the Netherlands based on the latest figures from 2015. Nearly one death in 20 (4.5{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4}) is now due to euthanasia. The figures come from a letter in the latest issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. “It looks like patients are now more willing to ask for euthanasia and physicians are more willing to grant it,” said lead author Dr. Agnes van der Heide, of Erasmus University Medical Center in Rotterdam. But the statistics for euthanasia only masks the proportion of end-of-life decisions in the Netherlands. The figures for some categories overlap, but 4.5{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} of all deaths happened through euthanasia, 0.1{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} through physician-assisted suicide; and 18.3{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} through “continuous deep sedation”.
https://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/latest-end-of-life-statistics-from-the-netherlands/12378
IVF&Surrogacy
No news today
Medical Ethics
USA – First American success with editing human embryos
According to the MIT Technology Review, a team led by Shoukhrat Mitalipov of Oregon Health and Science University successfully edited a gene for a genetic disease in human embryos which had been created with sperm donated by carriers of the gene. None of the embryos were allowed to live more than a few days. Chinese scientists have published three papers describing how they edited human embryos but found not all the cells had been “edited” and that there were some “off target” effects. According to the MIT Technology Review, Mitalipov’s technique has overcome these difficulties. A report by the US National Academy of Sciences has already green-lighted research on germline modification, provided it is used only for curing genetic diseases.
https://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/first-american-success-with-editing-human-embryos/12366
UK – Charlie Gard dies in London hospice
Charlie Gard, the 11-month-old terminally ill child whose case has dominated international headlines for months, has died in a London hospice after having life-support withdrawn. Gard suffered from an extremely rare, inherited mitochondrial disease called encephalomyopathic mitochondrial DNA depletion syndrome. The typically fatal condition causes progressive muscle weakness, brain damage, and organ failure. His parents had sought to take Gard to the US for experimental nucleoside therapy, but the High Court ruled in April it was in the child’s best interests to have life-support withdrawn. On Thursday a British High Court judge ordered that the child be moved to an unspecified hospice, after no agreement on further treatment could be reached between the boy’s parents and Great Ormond Street Hospital.
https://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/charlie-gard-dies-in-london-hospice/12364
USA – Doctors include contraceptive counseling in adolescent consultations
The American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Committee on Adolescent Health Care has released new guidelines instructing clinicians to discuss contraceptive options in every consultation with adolescent patients as young as 13 and at the very first visit. The document discusses the need to allow adolescents privacy from their parents, and doctors are instructed to ensure patient confidentiality to the extent allowed by State law.
USA – Human embryos modified to eliminate a single-gene disease
A paper in Nature explains how a team of scientists led by Shoukhrat Mitalipov of Oregon Health and Science University used CRISPR/Cas9 technology to eliminate a gene, MYBPC3, linked to a heart disorder. Stem cell scientist Paul Knoepfler said that the highly-anticipated paper was technically strong, innovative and rigorous – which suggests that other scientists will soon be building on Mitalipov’s achievements. David Albert Jones, of the UK’s Anscombe Institute, penned a withering critique, “Unethical research with eugenic goals”. “The whole rationale for this experiment is to take a step towards genetic modification as an assisted reproductive technology,” he writes. “We are manufacturing new human beings for manipulation and quality control, and experimenting on them with the aim of forging greater eugenic control over human reproduction. This is not a case of using bad means for a good end, but of bad means to a worse end.”
Pedophilia
UK – Call to ban Sex Robots
Human-like sex robots have taken the sex industry by storm and will hit the shelves by the end of 2017. The Foundation for Responsible Robotics has raised concerns in a report that the growth of cyborgs could lead to the increase of sickening sex crimes. Kathryn Taylor, of the Salvation Army’s anti-trafficking and modern slavery unit, said androids could encourage sex to be viewed as a “commodity”. Artificial Intelligence (AI) specialist professor Noel Sharkey, said guilt free sex with a submissive robot could encourage objectification, abuse, rape and paedophilia. Some believe that sex robots can help paedophiles who have urges to molest children but, Professor Sharkey, of the University of Sheffield, dismissed such therapy and has called for a ban on sex robots entering the UK.
http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/628559/sex-robots-warning-woman-children-uk-ban-report
Pornography
Australia – The future of pornography in Australia
Britain has welcomed software that forces porn websites to verify the age of users. Cyber safety experts believe the same move can be used to protect Aussie children as well. Australia’s Julie Inman Grant, eSafety commissioner, said that technology solutions can help limit content types that kids can access, but they alone cannot be used to solve the entire problem. Some studies point to a connection between pornography and a rise in child-on-child sexual abuse. Jon Lawrence, Electronic Frontiers Australia executive officer, recognized that it is important the government takes action to protect Australian children from pornography.
http://www.ibtimes.com.au/future-pornography-australia-1557128
UK – Compulsory ID checks to watch porn online from 2018
The UK government announced compulsory ID checks in a bid to protect under-18s and digital minister Matt Hancock signed the commencement order for the Digital Economy Act, which introduces the requirement. An age-check requirement applies to any website or other online platform that provides pornography on a commercial basis to people in the UK. Businesses that refuse to comply can be fined and regulators can ask third-party payment services to withdraw support. Regulators will also be able to block porn websites if they fail to show that they are denying access to under-18s.
https://www.gamblinginsider.com/news/3734/israel-takes-a-hard-stance-on-internet-censorship
Russia – Watchdog forces porn website users to lodge passport details
A battle between adult streaming service PornHub and the Russian government has forced users to register their passport details if they wish to view content. Russia blocked 11 pornography websites in 2015 because of the illegal production, dissemination and advertisement of pornographic materials and objects. The censorship restrictions were implemented on the basis that the websites breached the nation’s child protection laws. In 2016 PornHub was also restricted but managed to have itself reinstated by requiring users to enter their dates of birth but it has once again come under fire, with viewers now forced to log in through state social media, Vkontakte, which requires users to register their mobile phone numbers and passport details.
USA – New Florida Law Allows Challenge to School Curriculum and Books
New law HB989 has opened a Pandora’s Box of controversy for every school district in Florida. Under the new legislation local school districts must now offer an opportunity for residents of their county, whether they have children in the school or not, to challenge the curriculum or textbooks on offer. The new law requires school boards to hire an unbiased hearing officer who will handle complaints about instructional materials, such as movies, textbooks and novels that are used in local schools. If the hearing officer deems the challenge justified, he or she can require schools to remove the material in question.” To guide their decisions the law offers broad suggestions: Materials should be accurate, balanced, non-inflammatory, current, free of pornography and suited to students’ needs.
https://nonprofitquarterly.org/2017/07/10/new-florida-law-declares-open-season-science-education/
Same Sex Attraction
Ghana – Country won’t decriminalise homosexuality
Amnesty International tried to get Ghana to decriminalise homosexuality but the speaker of Parliament, Professor Mike Ocquaye addressed Amnesty members saying Ghana won’t decriminalise homosexuality just because other countries are doing it. Professor Ocquaye says Ghana will remain one of the 34 countries in Africa where homosexuality is outlawed.
Switzerland – New strain of Gonorrhoea is resistant to antibiotics
The World Health Organisation (WHO) is warning the public about a “super” strain of gonorrhoea which is spread through oral sex and has become resistant to antibiotics. The WHO’s conclusion on this strain came from statistics of 77 countries worldwide. Cases in France, Spain and Japan have proved incurable and the WHO lists it as the world’s greatest health threat. Gonorrhoea infects the genitals, rectum and throat. WHO spokeswoman Dr. Teodora Wi said “In the U.S., resistance [to an antibiotic] came from men having sex with men because of pharyngeal infection.” Oral sex can transmit several STDs, such as gonorrhoea, genital herpes, and syphilis.
https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/increase-in-extramarital-sex-leading-to-new-std-epidemic
Sexual Exploitation
South Africa – Four women rescued from sex trafficking
Johannesburg metro police rescued four women aged between 20 and 30 from a suspected human trafficking den in Randburg, Johannesburg. Two Nigerian nationals were arrested on suspicion of holding the women against their will and have been detained at the local police station. The four women confirmed to the police that they were raped and photos of them wearing nothing but lingerie were taken by force. Michael Sun, Johannesburg’s mayoral committee member for public safety has stated that the four women have since been taken to a place of safety by the SAPS after being rescued and one of them has been reunited with her parents.
Substance Abuse
USA – Homeless problem may be triggered by marijuana laws
Colorado’s homeless population jumped 13{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} from 2015 to 2016. While some blame pot laws others place the blame on the state’s housing dearth. Though there are no hard statistics to back it up, some people including Charlie Berry who grew up in Denver – says some of the homeless have came to Colorado for legalised marijuana, ‘basically all they want to do is just come here and smoke pot, when you legalise marijuana you open the door to a whole new level of hell’. Since Denver began cracking down, homeowners and businesses on the periphery of downtown say the problem has just moved outwards to where they are located.
USA – Conflict in Government on Marijuana policy
US Attorney General Jeff Sessions is reportedly trying to build support to go after companies that sell marijuana in states that have legalised the drug. However, while the executive branch contemplates fighting marijuana, the legislative branch is taking the opposite approach. Several US Senators introduced legislation that would end federal prohibition of medical marijuana with the primary goal to “Extend the principle of federalism to state drug policy”. That basically means let the states make their own decision instead of having federal government interfere when it comes to legalisation of medical marijuana. The bill would change the Controlled Substances Act in several ways; it would reschedule marijuana and THC (the primary psychoactive chemical in marijuana) as a schedule 1 drug instead of their current schedule 2 status. The legislation would also specifically exclude Cannabidiol (CBD) from the definition of marijuana in the Controlled Substance Act.
https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/06/20/marijuana-stocks-will-soar-if-this-legislation-pas.aspx
Mexico – President legalizes medical marijuana
President Enrique Pena Nieto has signed a decree legalising medical marijuana. The measure also classified the psychoactive ingredient in the drug as “therapeutic” although the new policy isn’t exactly opening the doors for medical marijuana dispensaries on every corner. Instead it calls on the ministry of health to draft and implement regulations and public policies. Uruguay has fully legalised Marijuana while Brazil, Peru, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Costa Rica have made marijuana more available in varying ways for medical or recreational use.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/06/21/mexico-just-legalized-medical-marijuana/
Disclaimer: the views and opinions expressed in these articles do not necessarily reflect those of Doctors for Life International
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