LIFEalerts 26 October 2016
LIFEAlerts
LIFEalerts 28 September 2016
India – New weapon to tackle the spread of internet child pornography
USA – Study: Sexual orientation is a biologically fixed property
Australia – Child Starts Sex Change before Kindergarten
USA – The Syndemic of AIDS among homosexual MenAbortion
Norway – Doctor fired for refusing to administer abortifacients
Katarzyna Jachimowicz, a Polish family physician working in Norway, became the first medical professional in the country fired because she exercised her conscience rights. Dr. Jachimowicz refused to surrender to government officials wanting her to abandon her sanctity of life standards. Instead, she is fighting for freedom and tolerance for family doctors. From the beginning, her objections were not only clear to her employer but also accepted. “Life begins at conception and I did not want to take part in destroying it,” she explained. In 2014, the legal situation worsened, with the nearly complete elimination of the conscience clause for family doctors.
UK – Are abortions for cleft palate rising?
Abortions for cleft palate, an easily-fixed facial deformity, have been rising in the United Kingdom according to latest official figures. In 2015, 11 were carried out compared to 4 in 2012. Campaigners point the finger at new pre-natal tests which allow doctors to inform pregnant women of the defect. MP Fiona Bruce, chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Pro-Life Group, said: “It is deeply disturbing if these figures reflect a worrying trend in society to disproportionately value the physically perfect and beautiful.” Reverend Joanna Jepson, who was born with a jaw deformity, said: “That this kind of discrimination is on the rise shows just how far we are from being the humane and tolerant society we claim to be.”
Poland – New Law Proposes Banning All Abortions
A new citizen-led bill which has wide support from the public and several leading government officials would prohibit all abortions except when the mother’s life is in jeopardy. The bill would criminalize abortion for causing the “death of a conceived child.” Doctors who do abortions and women who have them could face jail time of up to five years. A pro-abortion campaign called “Save Women” collected about 215,000 signatures for an opposing citizen-led bill that would legalize abortion on demand up until 12 weeks of pregnancy. In contrast, the pro-life bill has about 450,000 signatures.
Alternative Medicine
Australia – How Chinese medicine kills cancer cells
Researchers at the University of Adelaide have shown in one of the first studies the molecular mode of action of a complex mixture of plant-based compounds, in this case extracts from the roots of two medicinal herbs, Kushen and Baituling. Professor David Adelson, Director of the Zhendong Australia said “We showed that the patterns of gene expression triggered by Compound Kushen Injection (CKI) affect the same pathways as western chemotherapy, but by acting on different genes in the same pathways, these genes regulate the cell cycle of division and death, and it seems that CKI alters the way the cell cycle is regulated to push cancer cells down the cell death pathway, therefore killing the cells.”
Euthanasia
Netherlands – The Dutch do it better
Hot upon the heels of the news that the first reported case of euthanasia for a 17 year old took place recently in Belgium, comes the news from Holland that a “centre for euthanasia in children” is expected to open in that country within 12 months. Dutch Health Minister, Edith Schippers earmarked 400,000 Euros in May this year for a study on the matter. What is it they say about an inquiry? Never start one unless you know the answer beforehand?
http://www.mercatornet.com/careful/view/the-dutch-do-it-better/18698
IVF&Surrogacy
Norway – What’s in the IVF Petri dish?
With as many as one in 25 children being born through IVF in some countries, you would think that doctors understand the health risks perfectly. Not so. A clutch of papers in the leading journal Human Reproduction points out that the Petri dishes in which IVF embryos spend the first days of their lives are filled with mysterious fluids made up of unknown ingredients. And the composition of these laboratory cultures affects the birth weight of the resulting babies and possibly their long-term health.
http://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/whats-in-the-ivf-petri-dish/11983#sthash.Ey6PCUAR.dpuf
Medical Ethics
UK – Doctors worried about shift to online self-diagnosis
British company ADA Digital Health Ltd has released a sophisticated self-diagnosis app, while tech giant Google unveiled it’s new “symptom checker” search device. And on Wednesday UK Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt announced that the NHS plans to introduce a new smart-phone diagnosis service. But some doctors are concerned about the new developments, and have warned about the danger of misdiagnosis and “cybercondria”. Maureen Baker, Chair of the UK’s Royal College of General Practitioners, said “…asking patients to use an online tool when they are ill in lieu of describing their symptoms to someone over the phone who is trained to ask the right questions, should be approached with extreme caution.” Psychologist Mary Aiken said ” The question is: Can Dr. Google abide by one of the main tenets of the Hippocratic Oath “First, do no harm.”
http://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/doctors-worried-about-shift-to-online-self-diagnosis/11991
USA – Debate over chimera embryos intensifies
As the National Institutes of Health considers abandoning its ban on funding chimera experiments it will replace it with an “internal steering committee” to make funding decisions. Case Western Reserve University bioethicist Insoo Hyun argued that “Given the noble aims of this research, it is puzzling to some why the NIH is so nervous about providing federal funds to researchers with a track record of success in this area. But the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops called for the proposal to be set aside “The NIH proposal… [permits] the destruction of human embryos; it contemplates producing entities with partly or wholly human brains; and it allows for producing living entities who have human gametes.”
http://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/debate-over-chimera-embryos-intensifies/11993
USA – Has Obamacare created a “transgender mandate”?
Obamacare has been challenged on ethical grounds for allegedly forcing doctors to perform gender transition procedures on children. Last year the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) interpreted the word “sex” in Obamacare to include gender identity. Now, say the plaintiffs in a case known as Franciscan Alliance, Inc., v. Burwell, doctors will be compelled to perform transgender surgeries on children and adults, even if doing so conflicts with a professional judgment that the procedure would be harmful or not in the patient’s best interests. The plaintiffs in Franciscan Alliance, Inc., v. Burwell are Franciscan Alliance, a religious hospital network, and the Christian Medical & Dental Associations, joined by the states of Texas, Kansas, Kentucky, Nebraska, and Wisconsin.
http://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/has-obamacare-created-a-transgender-mandate/11996
Pedophilia
Australia – Government seized 18 shipments of child sex dolls since 2013
The possession of the lifelike dolls is banned in the country but their Japanese designer, Shin Takagi claims he is an “artist” helping to prevent paedophiles from offending. He set up his company to help him fight his own sexual urges and channel his desires away from children. But experts have disputed whether dolls act as a deterrent and some warned that the dolls normalise the act. A petition was signed by over 60,000 people calling on the regional government to ban their sale. “The Border Force works closely with Australian Federal and state police agencies to target and seize the dolls at the border, and prosecute those that seek or possess them.”
Pornography
Russia – Government bans online porn
Russia has banned two of the world’s largest pornographic websites. Pornhub and YouPorn are two of the 11 sites which were officially banned after a decision was taken last year by authorities that such sites violate child protection laws. Such bans of websites are relatively commonplace in Russia, with Roskomnadzor (media regulator) operating a blacklist containing thousands of sites. PornHub meanwhile took to Twitter itself to request an “unban” of its services in exchange for granting Roskomnadzor a free premium account.
http://www.thejournal.ie/russia-pornography-ban-2980852-Sep2016/
India – New weapon to tackle the spread of internet child pornography
Collaboration between a child protection initiative by the Mumbai-based NGO Prerana and the UK’s Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) is designed to enable citizens to report any sexually explicit images of children online. According to the National Crime Records Bureau, 94 instances of child pornography were reported in 2015. The NGO’s “hotline” form is offered in Hindi and English and can be filled in anonymously online. When a website is reported for hosting child pornography, it is assessed by a team of experts from the IWF in the UK. This team will then work to take down the content and prevent any current or future copies of the images or video from being uploaded elsewhere.
http://qz.com/785909/india-is-taking-on-child-pornography-with-an-online-hotline/
Same Sex Attraction
USA – Study: Sexual orientation is a biologically fixed property
A study by Dr. Lawrence S. Mayer, biostatistician and epidemiologist, and Dr. Paul R. McHugh, distinguished service professor of Psychiatry at John Hopkins University summarized 200 case studies integrating biological, psychological, and social data’ showing that sexual orientation is a biologically fixed property of human beings. The study shows further evidence that while “biological factors such as genes and hormones are associated with sexual behaviours and attractions, there are no compelling causal biological explanations for human sexual orientation. There is no neurobiological basis for gender identification that transgresses from biological sex. Only 0.6 percent adults identify as a gender not corresponding to their biological sex.
https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/large-peer-study-debunks-lgbt-creed-with-scientific-facts
Australia – Child Starts Sex Change before Kindergarten
A 4-year-old child has begun the process of having a sex change even though the child hasn’t yet started kindergarten. The New South Wales Department of Education has revealed that the child is the youngest person in the country to be in the process of transitioning genders for eventual gender reassignment using funds from the department’s Safe School program. NSW deputy secretary of school operations Gregory Prior said that there are “a number of students who are going through gender transition in our schools. The education department did not disclose any personal details about the 4-year-old’s case. The gender transition is hoped to be complete by 2017 http://www.christianpost.com/news/4-year-old-child-starts-sex-change-transition-before-kindergarten-in-australia-169164/
USA – The Syndemic of AIDS among homosexual Men
The Centres for Disease Control estimated that 36,138 men were newly infected with HIV. Of these, 30,635 (83{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4}) were homosexual men or men who had sex with men (MSM). While new infections in other categories have been declining, MSM has been increasing. Co-occurring epidemics among MSM included: higher rates of psychoactive party drugs, sexual compulsivity and sexual addiction. The research on AIDS among MSM found: the connection among these epidemic health problems and HIV/AIDS is far more complex than a 1-to-1 relationship; the additive interplay of these health problems magnifies the vulnerability of a population to serious health conditions such as HIV/AIDS, psychological disorders, depression, suicidal ideation, STDs and substance abuse.
http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/pdf/library/reports/surveillance/cdc-hivsurveillance-report-us.pdf.
Sexual Exploitation
South Africa – Government launches action plan on Human Trafficking
The National Plan of Action on Human Trafficking (NAPLAC) fights the crime following cases where Zimbabwean women were trafficked to Kuwait. Foreign Affairs Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi said the NAPLAC would run until 2018. ”The plan is anchored on four pillars – prosecution, prevention, protection and partnership. It is expected that the information on human trafficking will get to grassroots levels, protecting all our citizens, especially women and children, even in the remotest parts of our country.” Minister Mumbengegwi urged diplomats to be associated with the action plan.
http://www.herald.co.zw/latest-gvt-launches-action-plan-on-human-trafficking/
USA – Asian nations step up human trafficking fight
The U.S. and several Asian countries are boosting their efforts to fight human trafficking and the exploitation of immigrants and refugees. President Obama and leaders of countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations have signed a new declaration to combat modern-day human slavery throughout the region. The program would reduce human trafficking practices in the global food supply chain, and support improved research and data collection to target international criminals engaged in human trafficking. It builds upon ongoing U.S. efforts in East Asia and China to protect vulnerable migrants at risk of human trafficking, including training initiatives for government officials to identify and assist these migrants.
UK – Careers officers should suggest prostitution as a line of work
School careers officers should suggest prostitution as a potential line of work. Dennis Parsons, the chairman of Cheltenham Liberal Democrats, floated the idea at a special session on sex work. The Lib Dem said careers officers are not allowed to suggest prostitution, but added: “Why shouldn’t they?” Lib Dem leader Tim Farron distanced himself from the remarks, but insisted he would not “slap down” the councilor for making them because people needed to be allowed to say “shocking things”. “Drawing the equivalence between sex work and accountancy is not one that I share.”
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/careers-officers-could-suggest-prostitution-8858826
Substance Abuse
USA – Police change approach to opioid addicts
In the wake of their opiate crisis Massachusetts police in Gloucester have made revolutionary changes in the way they handle drug users. The chief promised critical actions: Any addict who walks into the police station with the remainder of their drug equipment or drugs and asks for help will not be charged. Instead they will go through the system toward detox and recovery. Five weeks later, the chief reported 10 addicts in and 10 placed on the way to recovery with no judgment, as well as 20 parents’, countless siblings, friends, and loved ones’ lives changed. This is only the beginning, one life at a time.
USA – Cannabis Industry Expected to Be Worth $50 Billion by 2026
Legalizing recreational use in California, where the drug is already medically permitted, is on the ballot in November, and approval of that measure alone would triple the size of the nation’s current $6 billion legal industry, according to a report from 10 Cowen & Co. In all, voters in nine states will vote on marijuana related initiatives this November; five to legalize the drug for all adults and four to allow for medical use.
Japan – Gaining scientific proof of adverse effects of cannabis
Researchers have clarified important mechanisms involved in the formation of neural circuits in the brain. This group also discovered that delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), a psychoactive substance also found in cannabis, causes disruption of neural circuits within the cortex. Research was done at Osaka University and published in the Journal of Neuroscience. The findings provide scientific evidence for the adverse effects of cannabis consumption on brain development and therefore may help to decrease abuse of marijuana
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/09/160912111913.htm
http://www.jneurosci.org/content/36/26/7039
Canada – Government approves prescription heroin
Canadian doctors dealing with patients who have proved unable to stop taking heroin can now go ahead and prescribe them heroin. Justin Trudeau’s government has reinstated a policy that allows doctors to prescribe diacetylmorphine, pharmaceutical-grade heroin, to severely addicted patients if other methods of treatment fail. Giving addicts heroin clearly doesn’t cure their habits, experts say, but it prevents many overdose deaths and reduces both health care costs and crime.
Disclaimer: the views and opinions expressed in these articles do not necessarily reflect those of Doctors for Life International
]]>LIFEalerts 13 September 2016
Abortion
USA – Abortions Drop to Record Low in North Dakota North Dakota, like so many other states across the country who are seeing historic low abortion totals, have passed several pieces of pro-life legislation in recent years. The Red River Women’s Clinic in Fargo performed 1,166 abortions last year, down from 1,264 in 2014, according to the state Department of Health. Bishop John Thomas Fulda of Fargo said the downward trend is a testament to the hard and often difficult work of pregnancy centers, adoption agencies and maternity homes. http://www.lifenews.com/2016/08/12/abortions-drop-to-record-low-in-north-dakota-at-almost-100-babies-saved-from-abortion/ UK – Marie Stopes suspends abortions in UK after safety inspections Marie Stopes International has suspended its surgical abortion operations across the United Kingdom after surprise inspections by government Care Quality Commission (CQC) officials found women could be at risk. It was unclear if staff had the competence or training to administer sedation and anesthesia. There were also “immediate concerns about issues of consent’. NHS England referred the 250 women scheduled for abortions at MSI to the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS), one of the country’s largest private abortion providers, and NHS hospitals. But the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) has “condemned” the CQC’s “reaction to the dangerous and illegal abortion practices in private abortion clinics,” excoriating its position as “inadequate, immoral and unlawful collusion in criminal activity. https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/marie-stopes-suspends-abortions-in-uk-after-gvmt-safety-inspection USA – Abortions Drop 37{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} in Memphis Abortions dropped sharply by 36.6 percent from 2011 to 2014 in Shelby County. In 2011, there were 4,595 abortions in the county, but by 2014, the numbers dropped to 2,914, according to a report from the Tennessee Department of Health. The ratio of abortions to live births also fell dramatically, from 326.4 per 1,000 in 2011 to 208.3 per 1,000 in 2014. The reasons for the decline are increased use of so-called long-acting reversible contraceptives, like implants and intrauterine devices as well as laws restricting abortion. Brian Harris, president of Tennessee Right to Life, said campaigns like the one that brings mobile ultrasounds to pregnant women so they can “see the humanity of their unborn child” have averted many abortions. http://www.lifenews.com/2016/08/29/abortions-drop-37-in-memphis-tennessee-as-more-babies-saved-from-abortion/ USA – Is Zika the cause of Microcephaly? It is suspected that the Zika virus is linked to microcephaly. The US Centers for Disease Control and the New England Journal of Medicine both concluded the link is there. But a recent, expansive study has cast legitimate doubt on the Zika/microcephaly connection. The study looked at nearly 12,000 pregnant Colombian women infected with Zika. None had babies with microcephaly. So what is the culprit? Some scientists believe pesticides may be the source. Pyriproxyfen may also have a detrimental effect on developing unborn babies. These early findings aren’t conclusive, but they do open the distinct possibility that Zika may not be the only cause of the increase in microcephaly cases. Pro-abortion activists are not happy about this. http://www.lifenews.com/2016/09/02/of-12000-women-infected-with-zika-all-gave-birth-to-healthy-baby-women-dont-need-abortion/ <Back to Top>Alternative Medicine
USA – Government to ban chemicals contained in Kratom The Drug Enforcement Administration has announced its intention to temporarily ban the chemicals contained in Kratom, a plant from Southeast Asia that activates some of the same receptors as opioids. The DEA has announced plans to temporarily classify two of Kratom’s psychoactive chemicals as Schedule 1 — the same category in which heroin, LSD, marijuana, and ecstasy are listed. The Food and Drug Administration has been trying to crack down on the substance, banning its import and ordering seizures of illegally packaged Kratom product. Barbara Carreno DEA spokeswoman said that the Department of Health and Human Services needs to study the substance in question. A handful of states have banned it as well. https://www.statnews.com/2016/08/30/kratom-ban-dea-schedule-1/ <Back to Top>Euthanasia
Belgium – Gold medalist paralympian from Belgium seeks euthanasia The end-of-life wishes of a gold medalist at the Paralympics have again raised the question of what makes a Belgian eligible for euthanasia, Marieke Vervoort won silver in the 200 meters wheelchair sprint and gold in the 100 meter event. But she has told the media that she may request euthanasia after competing at Rio. Ms Vervoort has a degenerative disease which causes her great pain, but she can still compete at a high level in a range of sports, including basketball, swimming and triathlons’. http://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/gold-medallist-paralympian-from-belgian-seeks-euthanasia/11956 USA – California grants assisted suicide to disabled, but not to prisoners Following the legalization of assisted suicide in California, the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) has proposed regulations that will prohibit prisoners from receiving “aid in dying”. Prisoners are to be provided with “healthcare appropriate and necessary to their situation”, and the regulations are said to “ensure the health, safety and security of inmates”. The End of Life Option Act states that Californian residents with a terminal illness and less than six months to live are eligible to receive assistance in dying. http://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/california-grants-assisted-suicide-to-disabled-but-not-to-prisoners/11958 Australia – New euthanasia lobby group launched in Australia Influential Australian journalist Andrew Denton has launched a new campaign for assisted dying in Australia, and called on the Catholic Church to “stay out” of the euthanasia debate. Denton claimed that the failure to legalise euthanasia in the country was the result of a “subterranean” network of religious politicians and businessmen. http://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/new-euthanasia-lobby-group-launched-in-australia/11960 Belgium – Euthanasia tourism on the rise in Belgium A rising number of “euthanasia tourists” are flocking to Belgium to end their lives, according to doctors in the country. Last year 2023 people were medically killed in Belgium, more than double the figure of five years earlier. Of these, many appear to be foreign nationals seeking assisted dying. “It’s a phenomenon that did not exist five or six years ago,” At the Brugmann University hospital, where Dr Vermylen works, 7 of 15 euthanasia cases last year involved French people. http://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/euthanasia-tourism-on-the-rise-in-belgium/11985 <Back to Top>IVF&Surrogacy
India – Government to ban all commercial surrogacy The Indian government plans to impose a complete ban on commercial surrogacy and to permit it only for legally married Indian couples. The Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill 2016 would ban unmarried couples, single parents, live-in partners and homosexuals from engaging surrogate mothers. Nothing but altruistic surrogacy would be permitted. http://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/india-may-ban-all-commercial-surrogacy/11975#sthash.ThnXkdqq.dpuf <Back to Top>Medical Ethics
USA – Have embryonic stem cells hit the wall? “Will Embryonic Stem Cells Ever Cure Anything?” is a skeptical headline you might read in a conservative journal like the National Review or the Weekly Standard. However, it is bit surprising to find it in the MIT Technology Review, in a profile of Douglas Melton, a Harvard stem cell scientist. … ‘No field of biotechnology has promised more and delivered less in the way of treatments than embryonic stem cells. Only a handful of human studies have ever been carried out, without significant results. The cells, culled from IVF embryos, are capable of developing into any other tissue type in the body, and therefore promise an unlimited supply of replacement tissue. Sounds simple, but it hasn’t been.’ http://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/have-embryonic-stem-cells-hit-the-wall/11954 USA – More people donating their bodies to science The surge in bodies being donated for dissection has been a bonanza for medical schools anatomy and surgery classes. “Not long ago, it was taboo. Now we have thousands of registered donors,” said Mark Zavoyna, manager of Georgetown University’s body donation program. ScienceCare, “the world’s largest accredited whole body donation program” appeals to generosity and altruism but there are other factors like the cost of cremation and funerals and weakening religious objections to dissection and cremation. Bodies used by medical schools are cremated and returned to families, often at no expense. According to Time magazine, for the first time in the US, more people were cremated than buried in 2015. In 1980, fewer than 10{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} of people chose cremation. http://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/more-donating-their-bodies-to-science/11966 USA – Legal heads-up on decapitation As a Chinese doctor plans the world’s first head transplant, renowned medical law expert professor Nita Farahany at Duke University said the operation – which the international medical community agrees has virtually no chance of success – would likely not even satisfy the legal criteria for consent if it were performed in the US. As Farahany observes, “a patient cannot consent to intentional or reckless homicide”. Alternately, is the right way to analyze a proposed head transplant as an assumable risk in surgery? We permit surgeons to operate on patients every day, even though they may die, and many do. Is this head transplant surgery just a very risky surgery to which a patient can, or should be able, to legally consent? http://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/legal-heads-up-on-decapitation/11979 Switzerland – Bioethicists challenge right to conscientious objection Over a dozen bioethicists at the Brocher Foundation signed a “Consensus Statement on Conscientious Objection in Healthcare” and said “healthcare practitioners’ primary obligations are towards their patients, not towards their own personal conscience”. Practitioners exempted from performing procedures on conscientious grounds should compensate society and the health system by providing public-benefitting services. Medical students should also not be exempted from learning how to perform basic medical procedures they consider to be morally wrong.” American bioethicist Wesley Smith was indignant. Writing in the National Review, Smith said: “Medical professionals are being pushed toward what I call ‘medical martyrdom;’ either be complicit in killing, commit what the professional considers a grievous sin, or suffer professional discipline, perhaps even loss of license.” http://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/bioethicists-challenge-right-to-conscientious-objection/11988 <Back to Top>Pedophilia
Gambia/Tanzania – Governments ban child marriage Gambian President Yayha Jammeh announced that anyone marrying a girl under 18 would be jailed for up to 20 years. And in Tanzania, the high court imposed a landmark ruling outlawing marriage under the age of 18 for boys and girls. 30{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} of underage girls are married in Gambia, while in Tanzania the rate is 37{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4}, Before the Tanzania ruling, girls as young as 14 could marry with parental consent, while it was 18 for boys. Gambia’s President speaking at the end of Ramadan, said parents and imams who perform the ceremonies would also face prison. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-36746174 Australia – Travel by Australian paedophiles must be blocked A number of men convicted of sex crimes in Australia are largely free to pursue their vile crimes overseas. Data obtained by Fairfax Media reveals 753 Victorian registered sex offenders have tried to travel overseas or succeeded in doing so since 2011. Previous data indicate child-sex tourism hotspots in south-east Asia are popular destinations. In 2014, 250 Australian child-sex offenders went to the Philippines alone. Registered child-sex offenders in Australia must inform police of their travel plans so that the destination country is informed and local authorities can decide to allow, monitor, or resist their travel request. Senator Derryn Hinch used his address to the Melbourne Press Club last week to cancel passports of convicted paedophiles. http://www.theage.com.au/comment/the-age-editorial/travel-by-australian-paedophiles-must-be-blocked-20160816-gqtukl.html Sweden – Could this injection cure Paedophilia? Dr Christoffer Rahm from the Karolinska Institute is investigating the cancer drug Degarelix to reduce sexual urges in potential abusers. Just one injection of the substance can reduce testosterone to undetectable levels within three days. Scientists want to see if the drug can help volunteers keep their sexual urges in check without causing unacceptable side effects. Unlike some other hormone treatments, the drug does not cause an initial “flare” that actually boosts levels of testosterone. The institute has launched a crowd-funding project to raise £38,000 for carry out further research into Degarelix. http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/658875/Christoffer-Rahm-Karolinska-Institute-Sweden-Stockholm-paedophile <Back to Top>Pornography
Australia – Many high school girls victims of online ‘pornography ring’ More than 2,000 graphic images of female students from over 70 schools have been shared by teen boys on a website. Young men use the group to nominate a high school or area they’re looking for nudes from, or full names of girls they are “hunting,” according to the Australian news organisation. The site also features “wanted” lists with members able to “contribute” by posting personal information about the young women including physical features, friendship circles, phone numbers and addresses. The Australian Federal Police are aware of the existence of a website which encourages users to upload images of a sexual nature and that they are working with taskforces in other states to determine an appropriate cause of action. http://mashable.com/2016/08/16/australian-students-victims-pornography-ring/#Rcu9ZytMXEq1 UK – Pornography ‘desensitising young people’ About 53{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} of 11- to 16-year-olds have seen explicit material online and (94{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4}) had seen it by 14, a Middlesex University study found. The researchers questioned 1,001 children aged 11 to 16 and found 65{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} of 15- to 16-year-olds reported seeing pornography, as did 28{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} of 11- to 12-year-olds. Most of the boys saw it as a realistic depiction of sex. More than a third (39{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4}) of the 13- to 14-year-olds and a fifth of the 11- to 12-year-olds boys saying they wanted to copy the behaviour they had seen. A 13-year-old boy related that one of his friends has started treating women like he sees on the videos. USA – Ex-Playmate Pamela Anderson: ‘Porn Is for Losers’ Former Playboy model Pamela Anderson has teamed up with a rabbi to speak out against pornography. An opinion piece by Anderson and Rabbi Shmuley Boteach published by the Wall Street Journal cites the latest sexting scandal involving former Democratic Congressman Anthony Weiner in calling for “an honest dialogue” about the dangers of pornography and “an honour code to tamp it down.” The essay calls pornography “a public hazard of unprecedented seriousness.” It closes by saying “porn is for losers” and calls it “a boring wasteful and dead-end outlet for people too lazy to reap the ample rewards of healthy sexuality.” http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2016/09/02/us/ap-us-pamela-anderson-anti-porn-pledge.html Canada – Get religious to stay away from pornography Researchers have found that attending religious services can keep the youth away from the adult sites. According to Kyler Rasmussen, lead author of the study and a PhD student at University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada it was found that there is a barrier effect at play where religious social control encourages adolescents to view less pornography over time. This increase in pornography consumption as adolescents get older isn’t as drastic among those who attend religious services. We can see that religious attendance is a factor in shaping the habit of pornography viewing in adolescents, Rasmussen noted. The findings are based on a telephone survey of 3,290 teenagers and their parents. The study was published in the Journal of Adolescence. http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/magazines/panache/get-religious-to-stay-away-from-pornography/articleshow/53079877.cms <Back to Top>Same Sex Attraction
Colombia – Thousands march in protest of homosexual school programs Colombians joined in protest against a new initiative of the country’s homosexual Minister of Education, Gina Parody, on implementing homosexual and transsexual gender ideology programs in Colombian schools. In the past two weeks, the Constitutional Court has ruled twice that “transgender” students in two different schools must be allowed to wear clothing appropriate to the opposite sex. Parody’s plan for revising the student handbooks includes a pamphlet she designed in conjunction with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and other UN agencies to instruct schools on how to induce students to “respect” and “value” transgenderism and homosexuality. https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/thousands-of-colombians-join-nationwide-protest-of-gender-ideology-in-publi <Back to Top>Sexual Exploitation
South Africa – A haven of sex slavery and child trafficking Statistics reveal SA could have as many as 100 000 young girls working in underground sex dens as sex slaves. Lorraine Botha MP, DA Western Cape Spokesperson on Community Development said in a Press release “I will submit parliamentary questions to the Minister of Social Development in the Western Cape, Albert Fritz, to determine whether the Department has a programme which focuses on identifying and eradicating this practice and if there is any record of the number of sex slaves in the Western Cape. I will also ask whether the Department has a rehabilitation programme for the victims.’ http://www.health24.com/Sex/News/sa-a-haven-of-sex-slavery-and-child-trafficking-20160406 USA – Massachusetts Senate toughens anti human trafficking laws Sen. Mark Montigny sponsor’s a Bill that strengthens the state’s antihuman trafficking laws. He says the measure will close legal loopholes that allow individuals to practice so-called “bodywork therapy” without having to meet the licensing requirements needed for massage therapy. The bill would also extend from three years to 10 years the time that victims can file civil suits against their traffickers. It would help law enforcement improve their data collection to better track human trafficking crimes. The New Bedford Democrat says the loophole allows human traffickers to maintain the facade of a legitimate business while operating in local communities. The bill would now require licenses for bodywork practitioners. http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/jul/24/senate-oks-bill-to-toughen-state-anti-human-traffi/ <Back to Top>Substance Abuse
USA – Legalized pot makes lower class poorer and less responsible A recent study by Steven Davenport of RAND and Jonathan Caulkins of Carnegie Mellon notes that “despite the popular stereotype of marijuana users as well-off and well-educated; they lag behind national averages” on both income and schooling. People who have a household income of less than $20,000 a year comprise 19{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} of the population but make up 28{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} of marijuana users. Even though those who earn more than $75,000 make up 33{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} of the population, 25{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} of them are marijuana users. Having more education also seems to make it less likely that you are a user. College graduates make up 27{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} of the population but only 19{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} of marijuana user. http://nypost.com/2016/08/20/legalized-pot-is-making-americas-lower-class-poorer-and-less-responsible/ South Africa – Dagga Activists Case Postponed A full bench of the court postponed the case‚ brought by Gareth Prince‚ a Rastafarian‚ and Jeremy Acton‚ the leader of the Dagga Party of South Africa‚ until December 13. This is to allow government departments to respond to a criminologist’s report that was handed to court. http://www.timeslive.co.za/local/2016/08/31/{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4}E2{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4}80{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4}98The-people-of-SA-need-dagga{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4}E2{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4}80{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4}9A{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4}E2{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4}80{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4}99-say-activists-as-legalisation-case-postponed USA – Increase in Number of Adults using Marijuana An increasing number of US adults are using marijuana, as fewer people perceive the drug as harmful, according to a survey of over 500000 US adults conducted between 2002 and 2014 published in The Lancet Psychiatry. As marijuana has become increasingly potent over the past decade, the authors say that the findings suggest the need for improved education and prevention messages regarding the risks of marijuana. The number of adults who first used marijuana increased from 823000 in 2002 to 1.4 million in 2014 and that the overall number of marijuana users increased from 21.9 to 31.9 million. The number of daily or near daily users was 8.4 million 2014, an increase from 3.9 million in 2002. http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpsy/article/PIIS2215-0366(16)30208-5/abstract https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/08/160831223748.htm USA – Five States Will Vote on Marijuana Legalization in November Arizona, California, Maine, Massachusetts and Nevada will all vote in November on the legalization of marijuana. Given all the information available, the best estimate is that California is most likely to grant legalization, followed by Maine and Nevada. Arizona has taken the toughest stance against legalization, followed by Massachusetts. http://www.alternet.org/drugs/its-official-these-5-states-vote-marijuana-legalization-november?akid=14535.8847.7QMUfO&rd=1&src=newsletter1061910&t=8 <Back to Top>Disclaimer: the views and opinions expressed in these articles do not necessarily reflect those of Doctors for Life International
]]>LIFEalerts 19 August 2016
USA – Texas drops all charges against Center for Medical Progress
USA – Planned Parenthood Closing Six Clinics
Mexico – State Votes to Ban Abortions and “Protect Life from Conception”
Ireland – High Court Rules an Unborn Baby Has a Right to Life
No news today
USA – Doctors are healers, not killers
USA – Doctors Sue Vermont for Forcing Promoting Killing Their Patients
USA – Stem Cell Therapies Still Mostly Theory, Yet Clinics Are Flourishing
USA – Normalizing Gender Dysphoria is Dangerous and Unethical
USA – X-Men is fine in the movies but not in real life
No news today
USA – The anti-porn movement is growing
UK – One in six ‘revenge porn’ victims are children
India – Shops sell real life rape videos under the counter
USA – Teen live video stream sexual assault instead of helping
Brazil – Nine year old girls selling their bodies
Ireland – Minister’s comments on prostitution receive mixed response
USA – Significant pain increases the risk of opioid addiction
USA – Edible Pot Sends Toddlers to Colorado ER’s
USA – Endless prescription: Suboxone, Subutex plaguing region
UK – Number of opiate-related deaths in UK rises to five-year peak
Abortion
USA – Texas drops all charges against Center for Medical Progress
Harris County District Attorney dropped felony charges against David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt, the Center for Medical Progress’ investigators who uncovered the abortion industry’s harvesting of aborted baby parts. “David Daleiden used standard undercover journalism techniques and followed all applicable laws in doing so,” Peter Breen of the Thomas More Society said. “This meritless and retaliatory prosecution should never have been brought.” Abortion advocates tried to use these charges to discredit the Center for Medical Progress, but the facts remain clear. Planned Parenthood has perpetuated abuse against women and children, which sparked congressional investigations and multiple state investigations. Their crimes have prompted numerous states to defund the abortion giant and trying to point the finger at Daleiden and Merritt failed.
USA – Planned Parenthood Closing Six Clinics
Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky closed their Scott County location and their Vigo County location in Terre Haute due to profit. Undoubtedly, Planned Parenthood’s allies will try to claim the abortion giant’s closure is the fault of pro-life policymakers, as they have done with previous closures. Planned Parenthood’s clients are learning they are better off without the abortion giant. Indiana has 3,667 Federally Qualified Health Centre’s, Rural Health Clinics, Medicaid providers and Title V clinics, including 81 in Vigo County compared to only 23 Planned Parenthood facilities. Women get better preventative care and more comprehensive care at non-Planned Parenthood facilities.
Mexico – State Votes to Ban Abortions and “Protect Life from Conception”
The Mexican state of Veracruz approved a constitutional amendment that effectively bans abortions by recognizing that unborn babies deserve protection. “I congratulate legislators of the Veracruz legislature for saying yes to life,” Javier Duarte outgoing Veracruz governer tweeted after the vote. The Mexico Supreme Court of Justice ruled three to one against a proposal to legalize abortion across the country. A woman procuring an abortion can face criminal charges in 18 of the 31 states. There is wide opposition to abortion in Mexico. Last year, more than 120,000 people signed a petition asking the nation’s Supreme Court to reaffirm that “abortion is not a right.”
Ireland – High Court Rules an Unborn Baby Has a Right to Life
High Court judge, Mr Justice Richard Humphreys, has ruled that the word ‘unborn’ in the Irish Constitution means an “unborn child” with rights beyond the right to life which “must be taken seriously” by the State. Niamh Uí Bhriain of the Life Institute said, “This is an important ruling which provides useful clarity at a time when the media and abortion campaigners are arguing that preborn children should be denied even the most fundamental right – the right to life,”. “Mr Justice Humphreys has ruled that preborn children not only have a right to life, but that the State is obliged to ensure that all the rights accruing to every child are upheld for children before birth.”
http://www.lifenews.com/2016/08/05/high-court-in-ireland-rules-an-unborn-baby-has-a-right-to-life/
Alternative Medicine
No news today
Euthanasia
USA – Doctors are healers, not killers
The American Medical Association (AMA) has reaffirmed its opposition to physician-assisted suicide (PAS) and euthanasia. According to the AMA’s Code of Ethics, allowing a doctor to engage in assisted suicide can do more harm than good. “You are violating the AMA Code of Ethics when you are in the business of prescribing a deadly drug to your patients. Physicians are healers, not killers,” said CMDA member Dr. Tom Eppes, chair of the Integrated Physician Practice Section of the AMA who was in attendance at the Code of Ethics Decision Reference Committee.
USA – Doctors Sue Vermont for Forcing Them to Promote Killing Their Patients
Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) attorneys filed suit in federal court against the Vermont Board of Medical Practice and the Office of Professional Regulation. “The government shouldn’t be telling health care professionals that they must violate their medical ethics in order to practice medicine,” said ADF Senior Counsel Steven H. Aden. “These doctors and other health care workers deeply believe that suffering patients need understanding and sound medical treatment, not encouragement to kill themselves. The state has no authority to order them to act contrary to that sincere and time-honored conviction.”
IVF&Surrogacy
USA – IVF doctors issue new ethical guidelines for errors Cases of mix-ups, losses and genetic defects have given IVF clinics and sperm banks a black eye in the past year in the United States. Now the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, the peak IVF body in the US, has issued non-binding ethical guidelines for its members. It states that clinics are ethically obliged to inform people of mistakes “out of respect for patient autonomy and in fairness to patients”. Clinics should inform patients as soon as a mistake is discovered. And clinics should also foster “a culture of truth-telling”. http://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/ivf-doctors-issue-new-ethical-guidelines-for-errors/11944#sthash.J5udCqw8.dpufMedical Ethics
USA – Stem Cell Therapies Still Mostly Theory, Yet Clinics Are Flourishing
US Health regulators are talked about as the best in the world, but a study on the spread of stem cell clinics by Paul Knoepfler of the Department of Cell biology and human Anatomy at the University of California shows what can happen when regulations fall behind. Over the past two to three years, 570 clinics have sprung up in the United States, offering untested stem cell treatments for just about every medical use imaginable. Outraged, Dr. Knoepfler has confronted some of the clinics. “I have spoken to the clinics and they say, ‘O.K., you have lectured me about F.D.A. regulations, but I have been doing this for years and never heard a peep from the F.D.A.’ They see it as a tacit green light,” Dr. Knoepfler said.
USA – Normalizing Gender Dysphoria is Dangerous and Unethical
The American College of Pediatricians’ has called for an end to the normalization of gender dysphoria (GD) in children. Mandates by public institutions to force GD as a normal variant of child development requiring toxic hormone therapy and surgical removal of healthy body parts are misguided and dangerous. A review of current medical literature finds this approach violates the principle of “First do no harm.” The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, Christian Medical Association, and Catholic Medical Association representing over 20,000 health professionals share the College’s concern. President Dr. Michelle Cretella, “Young children are being permanently sterilized and surgically maimed under the guise of treating a condition that would otherwise resolve in over 80{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} of them. This is criminal.”
https://www.acpeds.org/normalizing-gender-dysphoria-is-dangerous-and-unethical
USA – X-Men is fine in the movies but not in real life
Despite the popularity of superhumans in the X-Men series and a growing interest in transhumanism, the American public is wary of even mild forms of human enhancement. A Pew Research Center Survey asked about three scenarios: gene editing to protect babies from disease, chips in the brain to improve thinking ability and synthetic blood to increase speed, strength and endurance. Even though none are currently possible people were “cautious and often resistant”. 68{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} would be “very” or “somewhat” worried about gene editing, 69{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} about brain chips and (63{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4}) about synthetic blood. 2 to 1 people would not want to be enhanced themselves and only half would want it for their children.
http://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/x-men-fine-in-the-movies-but-not-in-real-life/11943
Pedophilia
No news today
Pornography
USA – The anti-porn movement is growing
Utah has passed a resolution declaring pornography a “public health crisis,” a step that shocked the public conscience. However, the movement to address the harms of pornography has been steadily growing and gaining momentum for years. Since 2011, there have been at least 24 studies that have revealed porn negatively impacts the brain. As people become aware of the harms to public health and to society, pornography is poised to follow the trend of tobacco in public consciousness. While public opinion about pornography is currently in flux, the volume of research and personal testimonies about its destructive forces continues to grow, and the movement to address the public health crisis of pornography has only just begun.
UK – One in six ‘revenge porn’ victims are children
One in six ‘revenge porn’ victims are children with the youngest aged just eight years old. An eight-year-old child has become the youngest victim of revenge porn. An investigation by Good Morning Britain also found that one in six victims of revenge porn are children. MP Maria Miller stated that the damage that it is doing to young people is difficult to comprehend. Also no action is being taken by these organisations such Instagram who are hosting these images.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/one-six-revenge-porn-victims-8346359
India – Shops sell real life rape videos under the counter
The Times of India reports that shops are selling thousands of real life rape videos every day right under the noses of the police. Dealers will download videos directly into your smart phone. A senior policeman told The Times that rapists almost always record the crime on their phones, which they then use as a blackmailing tool to either bully the victims, which stops them from going to the police, or to further pressure them into sexual submission. While it’s impossible to say exactly why these things are happening, it could be that the rising popularity of hardcore porn is skewing people’s perception of what’s acceptable. The popularity of internet porn has created a massive porn culture in society.
http://fightthenewdrug.org/these-shops-in-india-sell-real-life-rape-videos-under-the-counter/
USA – Teen live video stream sexual assault instead of helping
This is a testimony of a girl named Emma who, when she was younger and was sexually assaulted, the sexual assault was recorded, and that video, sadly, may still be out there. When an Ohio teenager witnessed her 17-year-old friend being raped, she not only neglected to help the victim, she pointed her phone at the assault and streamed a live video of it. And in London, a group rape was live-streamed in late March while thousands watched. This is all very disturbing. Studies show that the more someone watches porn, over time and frequent use, the more they’re likely to gravitate towards hard-core genres to achieve the same levels of chemical rush of excitement.
http://fightthenewdrug.org/teens-live-video-stream-rapesexual-assault-instead-of-helping/
Same Sex Attraction
Germany – High court rejects third gender category Germany’s High court said it rejected the creation of a third gender category of “inter” to describe people born with a reproductive or sexual anatomy that does not fit the typical definitions of female or male. A panel of the Federal Court of Justice ruled against a lawsuit filed by a German citizen who was born as a female in 1989. The person now identifies as “intersex” and submitted a genetic analysis showing they were neither man nor woman. The panel ruled that German law would not allow entry of a third option of “inter” or “diverse” in the birth registry, and saw no reason to refer the matter to the German constitutional court. http://indianexpress.com/article/world/world-news/germany-transgender-lgbt-homosexual-high-court-federal-court-berlin-2954470/ Australia – The first Australian national Trans mental health study In multivariate regression analyses done by Zoë Hyde, MPH PhD et al., from Curtin University , the factors associated with poor mental health were: sex identity (trans men, and especially trans women were more likely to have clinically relevant depressive symptoms, while experiencing non-binary anxiety syndrome); lower educational attainment; being unemployed; low income; poor self-rated health; wanting to take hormone therapy; wanting to undergo surgery; difficulty changing identifying documents and not feeling comfortable telling doctors about being trans gender. The findings of this study demonstrate that a substantial proportion of trans people experience alarmingly high rates of mental health problem and a high risk of suicide in this population. https://www.beyondblue.org.au/docs/default-source/research-project-files/bw0288_the-first-australian-national-trans-mental-health-study—summary-of-results.pdf?sfvrsn=2 Sweden – Study says high LGBT suicide rates not due to homophobia A study from Sweden has found that suicide risk among active homosexuals is three times higher even in a region highly tolerant of same-sex behaviour. This was published in the European Journal of Epidemiology. The behaviour of homosexuals often involves high levels of promiscuity and instability in interpersonal relationships, results in rates of 10-20{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} HIV infection of homosexuals living in urban areas, as well as elevated incidence of herpes and the cancer-causing Epstein-Barr virus, syphilis, anal cancer, and other diseases. https://www.lifesitenews.com/pulse/study-debunks-claim-that-high-lgbt-suicide-rates-are-due-to-homophobiaSexual Exploitation
Brazil – Nine year old girls selling their bodies
Near Rio de Janeiro’s Olympic village, girls as young as nine are selling their bodies to truck drivers. Some of these children are sold for sex by their own families and local activists are drawing attention to the reality of the young girls drawn into a life of prostitution and drug addiction. Sex trafficking gangs target the town and poor families are vulnerable. People are surprised to hear from town council psychologist, Gleyce Farias, that raffles were held regularly with the winning ticket holder’s prize being the right to abuse a particular girl being sold. A mother sold her 12-year-old daughter to marry a 60-year-old man for money and a 13-year-old girl ended up in hospital because of the abuses she suffered.
Ireland – Minister’s comments on prostitution receive mixed response
Minister of State for Training and Skills John Halligan’s declaration that clients of sex workers should not be criminalised could lead to increased numbers of women being trafficked into Ireland, a lobby group has warned. Chief executive Sarah Benson said legalised, regulated prostitution such as in Germany and the Netherlands “has increased trafficking including in the regulated sector”. She added that the only policy measure which recognizes that sex work is “inherently harmful” and “inextricably linked to organised crime” is one which targets pimps, traffickers and buyers. Research published by Queen’s University Belfast in 2014 in which 170 sex workers were surveyed found that just 2 per cent of respondents supported the criminalisation of clients.
Substance Abuse
USA – Significant pain increases the risk of opioid addiction
Results from a recent study, the first to directly address this question, show that people with moderate or more severe pain had a 41{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} higher risk of developing prescription opioid use disorders than those without, independent of other demographic and clinical factors. These results, from researchers at Columbia University Medical Centre, were published in the American Journal of Psychiatry. The researchers analysed data from a national survey of alcohol and substance use in more than 34,000 adults in two waves, three years apart. “These findings indicate that adults who report pain are at increased risk of becoming addicted to prescription opioids,” said Mark Olfson, MD, MPH, professor of psychiatry at Columbia University Medical centre, and senior author of the report.
10.1176/appi.ajp.2016.15091179
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/07/160722092937.htm
USA – Edible Pot Sends Toddlers to Colorado ER’s
Young children in Colorado are winding up in the emergency room after ingesting pot-laced goodies left out by adults, doctor’s report. Children have needed to be put on a ventilator and admitted to the ICU. It sedates them so much that it interferes with their ability to breathe. Serving sizes are also misleading, both for adults and children. Full-size cookies and candy bars are sold loaded with THC, the intoxicating chemical in marijuana. Customers are advised to break them up into a number of smaller servings to prevent overdose. People have become more careless in how they store their marijuana following legalization of recreational use. The findings were published online in Journal of the American medical Association Paediatrics.
http://www.webmd.com/mental-health/addiction/news/20160725/edible-pot-sends-toddlers-to-colorado-ers
USA – Endless prescription: Suboxone, Subutex plaguing region
“We routinely arrest people for drug offenses and find them in possession of buprenorphine (Suboxone or Subutex) and some other powerful narcotic.” said Officer Tom Patton from Kingsport Police Department. The intended use of buprenorphine is to help people addicted to opioids achieve sobriety, by gradually reducing the prescription until the patient is completely drug free. Counseling and therapy are supposed to be provided too. That is not happening. “Greed is taking over,” said Dr. Randy Jesse, from Frontier Health. “We are hearing stories about doctors quitting their ER work, quitting their practice and going into the Suboxone business.” Frazier, a drug addict said, “We’re giving doctors the money instead of drug lords”. Another addict said “It just turns into maintenance”.
http://www.thenownewspaper.com/news/386704991.html
UK – Number of opiate-related deaths in UK rises to five-year peak
There were a total of 1,507 deaths involving opiates such as heroin in 2014, according to figures released by the UK’s Office for National Statistics, the highest number since 2010, with a rise of 20{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} in a year. Between 2010 and 2014 there were 5,928 deaths involving opiates. The deaths cover all those that mention an opiate, except those that only mention methadone or buprenorphine, which are often prescribed to treat opiate addictions. There were 1,345 deaths involving methadone or buprenorphine alone. This casts much doubt on the UK’s drug policy, that implemented one of the first harm reduction strategies in the world back in the 1960’s i.e. needles exchange programs and methadone substitution therapy.
http://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/number-opiate-related-deaths-teesside-11510771
Disclaimer: the views and opinions expressed in these articles do not necessarily reflect those of Doctors for Life International
]]>LIFEalerts 01 August 2016
Abortion
Ireland – Parliament Defeats Bill to Legalize Abortions on Disabled Babies Life Institute spokeswoman, Niamh Uí Bhriain, said that this bill attempted to deny the humanity of unborn babies with disabilities and was a cruel and cynical exercise to push a much wider abortion agenda. Mattie Mc Grath said that “We all need to recognize that there is no monopoly on compassion when it comes to this issue. We all want the best medical and clinical outcomes for mothers and children.” “In light of that we need to be guided by the actual medical reality which clearly states that there is no legitimacy to the terms ‘fatal foetal abnormality’ or ‘incompatible with life,” concluded Deputy McGrath. http://www.lifenews.com/2016/07/07/irish-parliament-defeats-bill-to-legalize-abortions-on-disabled-babies-2/ Russia – Government Signs Agreement with Church to Prevent Abortions The Health Ministry has signed an agreement with the Russian Orthodox Church to prevent abortions and rather provide palliative care. The agreement was signed by the Health Minister and head of the Russian Orthodox Church. It includes the creation of crisis pregnancy centers at hospitals with psychologists and representatives of organizations from the Russian Orthodox Church, as well as “joint efforts to provide assistance and support to pregnant women whose prenatal diagnosis indicates a malformation of the fetus, as well as mothers who give birth to a child with developmental disabilities”. http://www.pravmir.com/russia-church-and-state-sign-agreement-to-prevent-abortion/ <Back to Top>Alternative Medicine
No news today <Back to Top>Euthanasia
UK – Media bias on assisted suicide As one might expect, media coverage of assisted suicide is skewed towards ringing-the-changes rather than steady-as-she-goes. However, when a proposal to adopt a neutral stance by British doctors failed by a huge margin, 63{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} to 37{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4}, in June, it was only reported by a few blogs. So whatever the main stream media reports, the Royal College of Physicians, the Royal College of General Practitioners and British Geriatrics Society are all officially opposed to a change in the law, along with 82{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} of members of the Association for Palliative Medicine. http://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/british-doctors-reject-neutrality-on-assisted-dying/11939 <Back to Top>IVF&Surrogacy
No news today <Back to Top>Medical Ethics
UK – Parliament to study freedom of conscience for doctors A new UK Parliamentary Inquiry into conscientious objection was launched this month, focusing specifically on the participation of healthcare professionals in abortion. The Parliamentary Inquiry into Freedom of Conscience in Abortion Provision will consider the scope of section 4 of the UK Abortion Act (1967). The so-called “conscience clause” of the act requires that “no person shall be under any duty, whether by contract or by any statutory or other legal requirement, to participate in any treatment authorized by this Act to which he has a conscientious objection”. Christian Medical Fellowship Chief Executive Peter Saunders welcomed the announcement of the Inquiry and encouraged healthcare professionals to submit evidence. http://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/UK-Parliament-to-study-freedom-of-conscience-for-doctors-over-abortions/11936 UK – What does Brexit mean for bioethics? According to the Christian Medical Fellowship, that the UK will remain in the Council of Europe (CoE) after Brexit is significant, as this is the umbrella organisation for what is known as the Committee on Bioethics, an influential policy body that seeks to apply principles outlined in the Convention on Human Rights and Medicine to new issues in medical technology and research. The European Court on Human Rights (ECHR) also falls within the purview of the CoE. Importantly, the ECHR has handed down significant decisions within the area of conscientious objection in healthcare. There are however, significant concerns about the effects of Brexit on UK public health policies that are underpinned by legislation from the European Parliament. http://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/what-does-brexit-mean-for-bioethics/11934 South Africa – Dikgang Moseneke joins Steve Biko Centre for Bioethics Former deputy chief justice Dikgang Moseneke who retired from the Constitutional Court in May has been appointed honorary professor of bioethics at the Steve Biko Centre for Bioethics, Faculty of Health Science at Wits University. Professor Ames Dhai said Moseneke’s ethical integrity would be invaluable to the centre in its efforts to further the discipline of bioethics. “His combination of qualities as a jurist and a scholar of the highest acclaim would support further growth and development of the centre and its many activities. We look forward to working closely with him and benefiting from the valuable guidance and advice he will impart to us when grappling with the many ethical dilemmas which form part of our day-to-day work”, said Professor Dhai. http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/dikgang-moseneke-joins-steve-biko-centre-for-bioethics-as-honorary-professor-20160624 <Back to Top>Pedophilia
No news today <Back to Top>Pornography
UK – British Government seeks to verify age of porn site visitors The UK government is proposing new legislation that will require all sites containing pornographic content to request age verification of visitors to their sites. Rather than porn sites putting an “18+ to enter” button that can be clicked just as easily by an 8-year old as a 28-year old, internet providers will access public information that will help to identify the age of the visitor. This is a huge step forward in protecting minors from the harmful effects of pornography. The motivation behind this effort is to keep children safe on the internet, preventing them from viewing material which is proven to be damaging to children. http://fightthenewdrug.org/british-government-verifying-age-of-all-porn-site-visitors/ USA – 12 Year olds admit to being addicted to porn A recent study conducted by the NSPCC ChildLine found that a tenth of 12 to 13-year-olds fear they may be addicted to pornography. Why is this happening, and why at such an early age? It’s all about accessibility and desensitization. Dame Esther Rantzen, founder of ChildLine, reports that young people are turning to the internet to learn about sex and relationships. Children are frequently stumbling across porn, often unintentionally, that it is having a damaging and upsetting effect on them. One girl reported being assaulted at age 12 by her boyfriend, who was addicted to pornography. Will Gardiner, CEO of Childnet and Director of the UK Safer Internet Centre, warned parents that they must face reality. http://fightthenewdrug.org/the-percentage-of-12-year-olds-who-admit-being-addicted-to-porn-will-shock-you/ UK – Startup trying to solve bitcoin’s child pornography problemWritten byAnanya Bhattacharya Obsession Future of Finance July 07, 2016 Bitcoin, a currency with the promise of anonymity and no government regulation, is a potential hotbed for nefarious activities. The London-based bitcoin startup Elliptic announced that it was teaming up with the International Watch Foundation, a non-profit in the UK that monitors online child abuse, to curb the cryptocurrency’s role in the spread of child pornography. Over the past years bitcoin saw an increasing amount of bitcoin activity connected to purchasing child sexual abuse material online. Elliptic’s role is to identify and flag all forms of illicit activity on the bitcoin blockchain. http://qz.com/725828/a-startup-is-trying-solve-bitcoins-child-pornography-problem/ South Africa – Experts say child porn is increasing Child pornography is on the increase and technology is driving it by immortalising images of abuse, over and over again. That’s the view of Dr. Monique Emser from the University of the Free State. Emser unpacked some alarming and highly disturbing trends such as an increase in the demand for baby porn, for live video streaming of sexual acts with children and for so-called bespoke material. Cybersex dens are also on the increase. With credit cards linking transactions to people, Emser says transactions are being paid for not with money, but with other pornographic images. According to Emser there was a 70{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} increase in child sexual material focused on girls under the age of 10 with abuse material involving toddlers and babies not being uncommon. http://www.sabc.co.za/news/a/25fa9f804c3bd54282cddfc0c0d1c749/Childundefinedpornundefinedonundefinedtheundefinedrise:undefinedExperts-20163103 <Back to Top>Same Sex Attraction
USA – Homosexuality Poses High Risks to Human Health According to a recent and extensive survey, homosexual people have “excess health problems. They suffer from “impaired physical and mental health, heavy alcohol consumption, and heavy cigarette use. The National Health Interview Survey included 69,000 participants and was published in Journal of the American Medical Association .The leader is Gilbert Gonzales of the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. The survey found that a sexually non-normative lifestyle takes a particular toll on women and bisexuals. Lesbians are 91 percent more likely to report inferior health outcomes and bisexual women are 100 percent more likely to report chronic health conditions including heavy drinking and smoking. The simple truth is that homosexual behaviour is harmful physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. http://www.afa.net/the-stand/homosexuality/2016/06/homosexuality-is-a-danger-to-human-health/#.V3UDwH5ginm.facebook http://archinte.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=2530417 USA – Your genes did not make you do it Geneticists, psychologists, neuroscientists and medical researchers agree that genetically dominated same sex attraction caused by a cluster of genes, could not suddenly appear and disappear in families, as it does. It would persist through every generation for many generations. If homosexuality is genetically dictated, homosexual practices will be identical or very similar in all cultures. Sexual dimorphism of the brain mainly occurs at puberty and experts still have difficulty identifying structural differences between adult male and female brains, let alone heterosexual and homosexual. Studies examining effects of very high doses of female hormones to mothers show no effect on males and a dubious effect on women. Therapy changing levels of adult male and female sex hormones affects sex drive but not orientation. http://mygenes.co.nz/summary.htm <Back to Top>Sexual Exploitation
USA – Study from US State department for 2016 “When we talk about ‘human trafficking,’ we’re talking about slavery – modern-day slavery that still today claims more than 20 million victims at any given time, all people, just like everybody everyone else. They have names and families in many cases. However, they are enforced to endure a hell – a living hell in modern times that no human being should ever have to experience.” said a Senior State Department official from Washington DC. http://www.state.gov/j/tip/index.htm South Africa – Decriminalization of prostitution not likely to happen The Deputy Minister of Justice addressed the World Aids Conference and he said that decriminalization of prostitution is not likely to happen in SA any time soon or ever. He listed among other reasons; increase in sex trafficking victims, increase in the number of women drawn into prostitution and increase in foreign women coming to SA for sex work. He also said that South Africa is a conservative nation and if put to a public vote it would likely not be supported. This is great news and a step in the right direction to the total abolishing of prostitution in SA. http://www.rootshosting.co.za/docforlife/breaking-news-aids-conference-2016/ <Back to Top>Substance Abuse
USA – Study: Marijuana use dampens brain’s response to reward over time Most people would get a little ‘rush’ out of the idea that they’re about to win something. If you could look into their brain at that very moment, you’d see activity in the part of the brain that responds to rewards. For marijuana users, that rush isn’t as big and gets smaller over time. It opens them up to more risk of addiction. The new results come from the first long-term study of young marijuana users that tracked brain responses to rewards over time. It was performed at the University Of Michigan Medical School, published in JAMA Psychiatry, and shows measurable changes in the brain’s reward system with marijuana use. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/07/160706114407.htm http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2016.1161 <Back to Top> Disclaimer: the views and opinions expressed in these articles do not necessarily reflect those of Doctors for Life International]]>LIFEalerts 28 June 2016
USA – Oklahoma College Offers Pro-Life Courses
USA – Activists Attack Governor for Shutting Down Abortion Clinic
China – Traditional Chinese Medicine Seen to Block Lung Fibrosis in Mice
Belgium – Will Belgium grant euthanasia for unwanted sexual attraction?
Holland – Let’s increase organ transplant rates by encouraging euthanasia
France – Top court allows export of sperm to circumvent dead donor rule
USA – Bioethicists clash over death of terminally ill 5-year-old
No news today
Peru – First Research to show the risks of chest binding
USA – Amnesty International defends pimps and traffickers
Canada – A case for arresting Vancouver’s Johns and pimps
UK – The dangers of rebranding prostitution as ‘sex work’
South Africa – Human trafficking thrives as economy slows
Abortion
USA – Oklahoma College Offers Pro-Life Courses
Oklahoma Wesleyan University (OKWU) plans to offer students an applied bioethics certificate for training in pro-life activism and pregnancy centre management. The program is in partnership with the Life Training Institute, a pro-life apologetics organization, and CareNet, one of the largest pregnancy resource organizations in the world. University spokeswoman Megan England said OKWU wants the program to train “leaders who are prepared to defend and protect the innocent in ways that are more than abstract.”
USA – Activists Attack Governor for Shutting Down Abortion Clinic
Kentucky’s new pro-life Governer Matt Bevin has done a lot to protect unborn babies and crack down on the abortion industry. His administration has filed two lawsuits against abortion clinics after state inspectors discovered they were aborting without a state license. Bevin also signed the first pro-life law to reach a Kentucky governor’s desk in more than a decade. His administration recently won a court victory when a judge ruled the state could shut down a filthy abortion clinic that was masquerading as a doctor’s office. Bevin also signed the first pro-life law to reach the governor’s desk in more than a decade. The law requires consultation between a doctor and woman at least 24 hours before having an abortion.
Alternative Medicine
China – Traditional Chinese Medicine Seen to Block Lung Fibrosis in Mice
Salvianolic acid B, a compound isolated from red sage and a main component of the traditional Chinese medicine known as Yiqihuoxue formula, prevented fibrotic changes both in bleomycin-treated mice and in cell culture models. Research from Fudan University in China recently found that traditional blend could lessen skin and lung fibrosis. The study indicated that this was likely mediated by preventing changes in gene expression and cell signaling pathways, induced by TGF-β. Findings, published in the journal Scientific Reports, showed that Salvianolic acid B also had similar properties when tested in a cell type derived from human lung epithelium, where scientists triggered fibrosis using both TGF-β and TNF-α, an inflammatory molecule also believed to be involved in fibrotic processes.
http://pulmonaryfibrosisnews.com/traditional-Chinese-medicine-ingredient-blocks-fibrosis-in-mice
Euthanasia
Belgium – Will Belgium grant euthanasia for unwanted sexual attraction?
Along with unbearable physical pain, mental suffering, and dementia, a new reason for seeking euthanasia in Belgium has emerged in the media – pedophilia. Gilles Genicot, a bioethicist at the University of Liege, also a member of Belgium’s euthanasia review committee said: “It’s more likely he has psychological problems relating to his sexuality. I cannot find a trace of actual psychic illness here. But what you cannot do is purely rule out the option of euthanasia for such patients.”
http://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/will-belgium-grant-euthanasia-for-unwanted-sexual-attraction/11911
Holland – Let’s increase organ transplant rates by encouraging euthanasia
Ethicists and transplant specialists say, according to an article in the Journal of Medical Ethics that about 40 people in Belgium and the Netherlands have successfully combined euthanasia with organ donation since 2005. The doctors are so enthusiastic about the procedure that they have proposed legal changes which will speed up the procedure and maximize the number of donations. Although the numbers are still low, the idea is becoming more popular in both countries, according to the authors.
http://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/lets-increase-organ-transplant-rates-by-encouraging-euthanasia-patients-to/11912#sthash.SrKgMBD8.dpuf
IVF&Surrogacy
Medical Ethics
France – Top court allows export of sperm to circumvent dead donor rule
A French Court has ruled in favour of allowing a dead man’s sperm to be sent to a foreign IVF clinic, despite France’s prohibition on insemination using sperm from deceased males. The Council of State ruled in favour of Spanish national, Nicola Turri, who requested that the sperm of her deceased Italian husband be exported to Spain where she lives now. Mr Turri was diagnosed with cancer of the lymphatic system and froze his sperm before starting chemotherapy, a routine procedure due to the treatment causing infertility. The court acknowledged that Spanish law permits post-mortem insemination, and decided that the denial of the application would constitute “an excessive interference” with the widow’s “rights to respect for private and family life”.
USA – Bioethicists clash over death of terminally ill 5-year-old
Julianna Snow, a terminally ill five-year-old girl who suffered from a common inherited neurodegenerative condition called Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease has died. After undergoing painful medical, Julianna expressed to her parents a desire to forgo treatment even if it meant her death. New York University bioethics professor Arthur Caplan said, “This doesn’t sit well with me. It makes me nervous. I think a 4-year-old might be capable of deciding what music to hear or what picture book they might want to read. But I think there’s zero chance a 4-year-old can understand the concept of death. That kind of thinking doesn’t really develop until around age 9 or 10.”
http://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/bioethicists-clash-over-death-of-5-year-old/11928
Pedophilia
No news today
Pornography
USA – Rhode Island prohibits malicious practice of “Revenge Porn”
The Rhode Island House of Representatives has passed legislation that would prohibit a malicious practice known as “revenge porn.”Attorney General Peter Kilmartin announced that lawmakers approved the bill which would prohibit the posting of naked pictures on a website without the permission of the person in the photos. The images are often posted by ex-spouses, former partners or extortionists demanding ransoms to remove the photos. A person convicted of revenge pornography would face up to a year in prison. Second and subsequent convictions would be felonies punishable by up to three years behind bars. Extortion involving sexually explicit images would result in up to five years in prison.
http://www.dailyjournal.net/view/story/593db011727e413b94c30c5b9cd6e3e4/RI–Revenge-Porn-Bill
USA – New Gallup Poll: How Accepted is Pornography in America?
A Gallup poll found that pornography is viewed as largely unacceptable by the majority of Americans with 61{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} finding pornography unacceptable. The movement against pornography and all sexual exploitation is gaining momentum across ideological and political spheres. TIME magazine recently ran a cover story on the physiological harms of pornography. The Washington Post ran a series addressing the negative impact pornography has on public health and gender equality. Utah has also declared pornography a public health crisis.
http://endsexualexploitation.org/articles/new-gallup-poll-accepted-pornography-america/
Same Sex Attraction
South Africa – Hopes and worries about hate crime legislation
The threat of violence against people because of their sexual orientation is not uncommon in South Africa, but will new laws help? Although South Africa has anti-discrimination legislation to address unfair bias, the Prevention and Combating of Hate Crimes and Hate Speech Bill distinguish hate crimes and hate speech as independent categories and provide specific sentencing guidelines. The bill is set to be tabled in Parliament in September, after local elections, and will undergo a public consultation process. The bill has not been free of controversy and the concern is that such legislation will limit freedom of speech.
http://www.groundup.org.za/article/targeting-hate-crime/
Peru – First research on the risks of chest binding
For the first time ever some well known information about chest binding has finally been done by the International Association for the Study of Sexuality, Culture and Society empirically and published in Culture, Health and Sexuality: An International Journal for Research, Intervention and Care. The data was collected in the form of an online survey, where participants self-reported about their preferences, habits, and symptoms, as it relates to binding their chests. The sample size was 1,800 people, from 38 countries, ages 18-66 years old, who were either assigned female at birth or intersex. 97.2{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} of respondents reported at least one negative outcome from binding. The most common symptoms were: back pain, rib or spine changes, shoulder joint “popping”, fatigue, weakness, and digestive issues.
https://janitorqueer.com/2016/06/21/28-risks-of-chest-binding
Sexual Exploitation
USA – Amnesty International defends pimps and traffickers
Dawn Hawkins, executive director of the National Center on Sexual Exploitation says Amnesty International’s new policy of advocating full decriminalization of prostitution “is a gift to pimps, sex buyers, and sex traffickers. Through their “irresponsible policy”, pimps and exploiters become mere “sex business operators” and “customers” while sexual violence and abuse inherent to prostitution is normalized as a form of ‘work. They have undermined the human rights of persons in the sex trade, mainly females, and has advocated for impunity for perpetrators of sexploitation. By decriminalizing pimps and sex buyers, they are sanctioning the abuses experienced by those in prostitution. Decriminalization of prostitution in no way rectifies the conditions of inequality, abuse, violence and dehumanization in prostitution.
http://www.wnd.com/2016/06/amnesty-international-defends-pimps-and-traffickers/#dKuLsvDU7pFKgdmT.99
Canada – A case for arresting Vancouver’s Johns and pimps
A situation has united people who have been calling on Vancouver Police and city to stop demand by stopping the men who buy women. Not a single charge has yet been made against a John under Canada’s prostitution laws. Amy, a resident of a Vancouver neighborhood, says she’s frustrated watching the sex trades operate right in front of her house. She understands some people may see prostitution as a choice, but says she sees girls who are young and manipulated, and clearly living in poverty. She says the trade comes with its trappings, like drugs and discarded needles, and that the trolling Johns are raising concerns among women.
http://www.cknw.com/2016/06/14/draft-the-prostitution-trade-in-vancouver/
UK – The dangers of rebranding prostitution as ‘sex work’
The steady creep of “sex work” into 21st-century vernacular is neither incidental nor accidental. The term didn’t just pop up and go viral. The Global Network of Sex Work Projects, an organization that openly campaigns for brothel-keeping and pimping to be recognized as legitimate jobs, credits itself as largely responsible for “sex work” replacing “prostitution” as the terminology for institutions such as the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/Aids (UNAIDS). The notion that being paid to perform sex acts should be recognized as a kind of service work is the rationale underpinning legalized prostitution regimes.
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#search/The+dangers+of+rebran/155297cf4bcc382f
South Africa – Human trafficking thrives as economy slows
As the economy declines there is an increase in human trafficking because criminals view it as an easier crime to get into, as little or no capital input is needed, said advocate Dawn Coleman-Malinga of the Sexual Offences and Community Affairs Unit of the National Prosecuting Authority. It generates billions in profit each year and is one of the world’s fastest growing criminal activities. Internationally, it is the third most profitable business of organized crime after drug dealing and the small arms trade. Victims are seduced by offers of legitimate employment due to poverty, unemployment, lack of education, domestic violence and ignorance. Stockholm syndrome, which is a psychological phenomenon in which hostage’s express empathy and sympathy towards their captors, is also a problem.
http://www.iol.co.za/news/crime-courts/human-trafficking-thrives-as-economy-slows-2036895
Substance Abuse
USA – Long-term marijuana use changes brain’s reward circuit
Chronic marijuana use disrupts the brain’s natural reward processes, according to researchers at the Centre for Brain Health at The University of Texas at Dallas. In a paper published in Human Brain Mapping, researchers demonstrated for the first time with functional magnetic resonance imaging that long-term marijuana users had more brain activity in the mesocorticolimbic-reward system when presented with cannabis cues than with natural reward cues.“This study shows that marijuana disrupts the natural reward circuitry of the brain, making marijuana highly salient to those who use it heavily.” said Dr. Francesca Filbey, director of Cognitive Neuroscience Research in Addictive Disorders.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/06/160607151239.htm
USA – lifelong marijuana use correlated with troubled middle age
In a study in the journal Clinical Psychological Science researchers followed about 1,000 people from birth to age 38. “Our study found that regular cannabis users experienced downward social mobility and more financial problems such as troubles with debt and cash flow,” said Magdalena Cerdá, an epidemiologist at the University of California. “Regular long-term users also had more antisocial behaviours at work i.e. stealing money or lying to get a job and experienced more relationship problems, such as intimate partner violence and controlling abuse.” At age 18, those who went on to use marijuana heavily were no different from the rest of the cohort in their IQ, motivation, or impulsivity.
http://www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/newsroom/pdf/2016_APS_Persistent-cannabis-dependence.pdf
UN – World drug abuse statistics
An estimated quarter of a billion people between the ages of 15 and 64 years, abused at least one drug in 2014 but that figure and the number of drug-related deaths have remained relatively steady over recent years, according to a U.N. report. At the same time, the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) report said that the number of heroin users in the United States in 2014 was nearly triple that of 2003 with five times as many deaths related to the drug than in 2000. UNODC put all drug-related fatalities at an estimated 207,400 worldwide in the 15-64 age groups.
http://medicalxpress.com/news/2016-06-world-drug-abuse-deaths-pretty.html
Disclaimer: the views and opinions expressed in these articles do not necessarily reflect those of Doctors for Life International
]]>LIFEalerts 28 June 2016
LIFEalerts 09 June 2016
Abortion
USA – Kansas permanently defunds Planned Parenthood
USA – 175 babies saved from abortion pill
USA – New meta-study confirms link between abortion and preterm birthAlternative Medicine
USA – Herbal remedies an overlooked health hazard
USA – Alternative Medicine Users More Likely To Delay ChemotherapyUSA – Acupuncture Licensing Signed into Law
USA – Home Remedy For Skin Cancer May Cause Damage
Euthanasia
Netherlands – Dutch pediatricians seek child euthanasia
Netherlands – Dutch euthanasia cases up by 4{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4}
Australia – Searching for meaning at the end of life
USA – Suicide on the rise
IVF& Surrogacy
Medical Ethics
UK/USA – Calls to extend 14-day embryo rule
France – Paris conference investigates CRISPR potential
USA – Scientists discuss synthetic human genome behind closed doors
USA – Experimentation continues on chimera embryos
Pedophilia
No news today
Pornography
Same Sex Attraction
Sexual Exploitation
USA – Stomping Johns: The Demand Side of Prostitution
USA – Inconvenient truths: sex buyers and prostitution harm denial
USA – Amnesty ignores downside of decriminalizing prostitution
USA – Five reasons Amnesty’s policy should worry youSubstance Abuse
UK – More than half of UK toddler poisoning deaths caused by methadone
Abortion
USA – Kansas permanently defunds Planned Parenthood
Kansas defunded Planned Parenthood and in doing so expanded access to healthcare for poor women. Kansas Senate Bill 436 reallocates $61,000 from the abortion provider to full-service healthcare clinics. Gov. Sam Brownback made the following statement: ”The time has come to finish the job. We must keep working to protect our most innocent Kansans, the unborn. Every year since I became governor we have enacted pro-life legislation. We have come a long way, but there is still work to be done.”
USA – 175 babies saved from abortion pill
In 2006, Dr. Matthew Harrison from North Carolina was called to help a young woman that has taken the RU-486 abortion pill. There was no known antidote or treatment to stop the abortion. Focusing on how RU-486 works, he gave her a shot of progesterone. She received progesterone shots twice a week until about halfway through the pregnancy when her body began producing enough progesterone to support the pregnancy. She delivered a healthy baby at 40 weeks gestation. To date, 175 babies have been born alive and healthy, and 100 more are on the way, thanks to Dr. Harrison’s discovery. The success rate of saving babies after the first pill has been taken is about 53 percent.
USA – New meta-study confirms link between abortion and preterm birth A new study appearing in the latest issue of the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology finds that abortion comes with a “significantly higher risk” of premature births in future pregnancies. The study, a meta-analysis of 36 international studies and over a million women, finds a 52{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} increase in the risk, as well as heightened possibility of lower gestational and birth weights. http://liveactionnews.org/new-meta-study-confirms-link-between-abortion-and-preterm-births/Alternative Medicine
USA – Herbal remedies an overlooked health hazard
Millions of people around the world use herbal health remedies and many of our allopathic medicines are derived from herbs. But researchers Dr. Donald M. Marcus, professor emeritus of medicine and immunology at Baylor, and Dr. Arthur P. Grollman, distinguished professor of pharmacological sciences at Stony Brook University, discussed the scientific evidence showing that the plant Aristolochia commonly known as birthwort, Pipevine or Dutchman’s pipe can cause aristolochic acid nephropathy (AAN). People with this condition experience interstitial nephritis, renal failure and cancers of the urinary track. According to the national prescription database, between 1997 and 2003, 8 million people were exposed to herbs containing Aristolochia. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/05/160503130532.htm
USA – Alternative Medicine Users More Likely To Delay Chemotherapy Women with early stage breast cancer who resort to alternative medicine are more likely to delay recommended chemotherapy, a new study suggests. This is one of the first studies evaluating the impact of complementary and alternative medicine use on decisions about chemotherapy. Led by Heather Greenlee, ND, PhD, associate professor of Epidemiology at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, the researchers studied a group of 685 women with early-stage breast cancer who were recruited from Columbia University Medical Centre, Kaiser Permanente Northern California, and Henry Ford Health System and enrolled 2006-2010. The women were younger than 70 with non-metastatic invasive breast cancer. http://reliawire.com/cam-users-delay-chemotherapy/USA – Acupuncture Licensing Signed into Law
Governor Sam Brownback signed House Bill 2615 into law on Friday, May 13, 2016. HB2615 includes provisions for the licensure of Acupuncturists in the State of Kansas. Previously, untrained and inexperienced practitioners had equal footing to perform acupuncture as fully trained acupuncturists. The Bill requires Kansas Acupuncturists to complete a nationally accredited certification program, pass national exams, and carry professional liability insurance. HB2615 goes into effect in July, 2016, even though it was removed from the list of therapies in the UK due to a lack of evidence that it works.
http://news.sys-con.com/node/3827311
USA – Home Remedy for Skin Cancer May Cause Damage
Despite the promise of an “easy and natural” treatment for skin cancer, home remedies such as black salve, also known as Cansema, can actually make things worse, new research shows. “There is a misperception that black salve ‘draws the cancer out,’ when, in fact, it just indiscriminately damages anything it touches,” study co-author Dr. Mark Eliason, a dermatologist at the University of Utah, said in a news release from the American Academy of Dermatology. “One of the reasons black salve treatment is so dangerous is that many users have no idea how harmful it can be.”
http://news.health.com/2016/05/23/home-remedy-for-skin-cancer-may-cause-damage-mask-new-growth/
Euthanasia
Netherlands – Dutch pediatricians seek child euthanasia
After neighboring Belgium passed legislation in 2014 enabling child euthanasia, doctors and activists in the Netherlands are keen to catch up. The Dutch Health Minister, Edith Schippers, has earmarked almost 400,000 Euros for a study of whether to expand eligibility for euthanasia to children between 1 and 12. At the moment, children under 1 may be killed with the consent of their parents following criteria set out in the Groningen Protocols, where children older than 12 are already eligible. The Dutch Paediatric Association (NVK) kicked off the debate on the topic last year. They already strongly support a change.
http://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/dutch-paediatricians-seek-child-euthanasia/11857
Netherlands – Dutch euthanasia cases up by 4{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4}
According to the latest statistics released by the government, in 2015 there were 5,516 euthanasia or assisted suicide cases. This is rise of 4{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} over the figures for 2014. The most intriguing feature of the statistics was the steep rise in euthanasia for end-stage psychiatric disorders (56, up from 41 in 2014, 73{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4}) and dementia (109, up from 81, 74{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4}). According to the Dutch protocols for euthanasia, each doctor is supposed to lodge a report with one of the five regional review committees. In 4 out of the 5,516 cases, the committees detected some irregularities, which will be investigated further.
http://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/dutch-euthanasia-cases-up-by-41/11860
Australia – Searching for meaning at the end of life
Researchers from Australia and the UK have called for greater attention to be paid to ‘spiritual care’ in the treatment of elderly patients. Psychiatrists John Wattis and Stephen Curran of the University of Huddersfield discussed the need for clinicians to provide holistic treatment for elderly patients: “The technical and the interpersonal aspects of clinical care should go together. Being prepared to assess spiritual need and deal with it – or signpost the patient to those who can help – should be part of good medical practice.”
http://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/searching-for-meaning-at-the-end-of-life/11881
USA – Suicide on the rise
Columbia University psychiatrist Jeffrey A. Lieberman has criticized the lack of funding for research into suicide prevention. A report from the National Center for Health Statistics gives a sobering set of statistics that the suicide rate has increased during the period 1999-2014. The average percent increase in the age-adjusted suicide rate was about 1{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} per year from 1999 to 2006, which increased to 2{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} from 2006 to 2014. The suicide rate for females aged 10-14 years had the largest percent increase, a 200{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} increase.
http://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/doctors-call-for-government-action-as-suicide-increases/11883
IVF&Surrogacy
UK – Court decision broadens scope of surrogacy In a landmark decision, the High Court in the UK has ruled that it is discriminatory to prevent single men or women from becoming the parents of babies born to surrogate mothers. The government will probably have to update its legislation to make it compatible with the ruling. Until now, only couples in a stable relationship could become parents of a child born to a surrogate mother. Single people could adopt children, but they were not automatically entitled to be regarded as a parent if their child was born to a surrogate. http://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/landmark-uk-decision-broadens-scope-of-surrogacy/11896#sthash.y9ObuDs0.dpufMedical Ethics
UK/USA – Calls to extend 14-day embryo rule
Policy analysts are calling for a change to the 14-day embryo experimentation rule requiring scientists to terminate embryos in vitro before two week of development after new embryology research in Nature, where scientists kept embryos alive until the 14-day mark. University of Manchester bioethicist John Harris argued a 21-day deadline would allow scientists to better understand miscarriages and stem cells to treat diseases. The Nuffield Council on Bioethics said they are considering whether to advocate for legal change. US ethicists writing in Nature this week called for clarification and re-evaluation of existing regulations. Reverend Tadeusz Pacholczyk of the National Catholic Bioethics Centre suggested the 14-day-rule was flawed and only paid “lip service to the moral status of the human embryo”.
http://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/calls-to-augment-14-day-embryo-rule/11867
France – Paris conference investigates CRISPR potential
CRISPR and other gene-editing technologies hold great promise for treating disease but provoke ethical concerns, especially about germline modification and altering the genetic heritage of future generations. Two conferences in Paris were attended by leading figures in stem cell research to discuss regulation, governance, and ethical issues surrounding human gene-editing research. Irish lawyer Caroline Simons summarized the proceedings on the blog of Paul Knoepfler’s stem cell lab.1. Germline gene editing technologies are not ready for clinical application in humans.2. No country has regulated specifically for these technologies, but some consider that their regulations would encompass, or at least not prohibit, somatic gene editing.3. Most countries prohibit germline gene editing. Click to read the other points.
http://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/paris-conference-investigates-crispr-potential/11871
http://www.ipscell.com/2016/05/meeting-report-from-april-29th-paris-human-gene-edit-meeting/
USA – Scientists discuss synthetic human genome behind closed doors
Scientists, lawyers and entrepreneurs have gathered behind closed doors at Harvard to discuss creating a synthetic human genome. This could lead to the creation of humans without parents, genetically-engineered humans or copies of existing people. The NY Times said the goal of the meeting was to synthesize a complete human genome in a cell line within 10 years. Drew Endy of Stanford, and Laurie Zoloth at Northwestern University, were highly critical of the secrecy surrounding the meeting. The creation of new human life is one of the last human-associated processes that has not yet been industrialised or fully commodified. It remains an act of faith, joy, and hope. Discussions to synthesise a human genome should not occur in closed rooms.
http://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/scientists-discuss-synthetic-human-genome-behind-closed-doors/11884
USA – Experimentation continues on chimera embryos
US Scientists continue to conduct research on human-animal hybrid embryos, despite a moratorium on funding from the National Institutes of Health. Pablo Ross, a reproductive biologist from the University of California, Davis, has been working to grow human organs in developing porcine foetuses. “We’re not trying to make a chimera just because we want to see some kind of monstrous creature; we’re doing this for a biomedical purpose.” Some bioethicists are concerned about creating chimera embryos. Stuart Newman, professor of cell biology and anatomy at New York Medical College, said “If you have pigs with partly human brains you would have animals that might actually have consciousness like a human.” “It might have human-type needs. We don’t really know.”
http://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/experimentation-continues-on-chimera-embryos/11882
Pedophilia
No news today
Pornography
USA – Revenge Porn: Is It Legal? A recent national survey shows that 36{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} of Americans plan to send intimate content to their partners. Additionally, one in ten ex-partners threatened to expose racy images online and carry out the threat 60{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} of the time. Revenge porn is unwilling individuals being exploited for the entertainment of others. There are no federal laws criminalizing revenge porn. However, due to recent advocacy efforts twenty-eight states now have revenge porn laws in place. Revenge porn is a real problem that federal lawmakers are only recently starting to realize.http://endsexualexploitation.org/articles/15014-2/
UK – Queen’s Speech forces porn sites to verify users Porn sites will be forced to verify users’ ages as part of a crackdown, confirmed today in the Queen’s Speech. Strict rules in the Digital Economy Bill will force porn-lovers to go beyond just saying “yes, I’m 18” – and could ask for their credit card details. The law will apply to all sites showcasing material in the UK according to officials. http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/queens-speech-forces-porn-sites-7996602Same Sex Attraction
USA – Are homosexuals born that way? In spite of the latest Gallup poll, 51 percent of Americans say that people are born gay or lesbian, while only 30 percent say outside factors such as upbringing and environment determine sexual orientation. However no fewer than eight major studies from around the world have found homosexuality is not a genetic condition. Physychiatrists William Byne and Bruce Parsons summarize the evidence favouring a biologic theory to be lacking. Peter Sprigg of the Family Research Council says that these numerous, rigorous studies of identical twins have now made it impossible to argue that there is a “gay gene. Some homosexuals openly admit that their lifestyle is a choice.Sexual Exploitation
USA – Stomping Johns: The Demand Side of Prostitution
Samantha Bergh says since 2003, she has primarily worked against men’s demands for prostitution and pornography. The phrase “red light district” refers those neighborhoods in every sizable city where men can go to sexually prey on girls with society’s permission. They are the rape neighborhoods, where rape is a little more okay than it is elsewhere and everyone knows it. When sex is “work,” rape is theft; a man raping a woman is more akin to a man shoplifting than a man inflicting life-wrecking torture. A man’s agreement to pay $150 for sex makes the rape he commits a crime worth $150 in the public changing minds. There’s a role for everyone who wants to do something about sex-based slavery.
http://worldnewstrust.com/stomping-johns-the-demand-side-of-prostitution-mickey-z
USA – Inconvenient truths: sex buyers and prostitution harm denial
The truth about prostitution is often concealed behind the lies, manipulations and distortions of sex trade pimps, managers and others who profit from the business, says research by Melissa Farley on the psychosocial and psychobiological realities. Just like other coercive systems, are dehumanization, objectification, sexism, racism, misogyny, lack of empathy/pathological entitlement (pimps and clients), domination, exploitation, and chronic exposure to violence and degradation that destroys the personality and the spirit? Prostitution cannot be made safe by legalizing or decriminalizing it. Prostitution needs to be completely abolished as they are being chronically sexually harassed, endangered, and raped. Most women in prostitution suffer from severe PTSD and want to get out.
http://logosjournal.com/2016/farley-2/
USA – Amnesty ignores downside of decriminalizing prostitution
Laws applying to all involved in the sex trade overlook the abuse and expolitatation at its heart. Should prostitution be legalized? Cynthia Dills answer implicitly endorses the full decriminalization policy proposed by Amnesty International and other watchdog organizations. This policy would decriminalize everyone from the marginalized (mostly) woman and girls who are the merchandise, to the buyers and middlemen who exploit them. Instead, Amnesty International’s acceptance of prostitution with the recommendations made by attendees at the Carter Center’s World Summit to End Sexual Exploitation, held in May 2015 in Atlanta. They state: “Commercial sexual exploitation is gender-based violence and a public health crisis made possible by unethical and ungrounded male entitlement, which disproportionately affects the most venerable among us.
USA – Five reasons Amnesty’s policy should worry you Darren Geist from Rolling Stones magazine reports: 1. Decriminalization will Increase sex trafficking. 2. It will reduce the quality of life for prostitutes and hinder efforts to provide protection and improve health care. 3. It ignores complicated issues of consent in prostitution, where most prostitutes are victims of exploitation. 4. It will fuel rape culture. 5. it’s promoting a form of economic libertarianism, typically anathema to the human rights left. Amnesty’s proposal perverts human-rights and women’s-rights principles. It sacrifices concerns and welfare of the vast majority of prostitutes. Amnesty has staked out a position that will be a boon to pimps and sex traffickers, and do great damage to the human rights of the men, women and children caught up in the sex industry. http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/6-reasons-to-be-wary-of-amnestys-prostitution-policy-20160601Substance Abuse
South Africa – Pro marijuana advocates get high on dagga policy shift Pro-dagga activists welcomed the Central Drug Authority’s policy shift as “a move in the right direction”. In a position statement in the South African Medical Journal, the authority contradicted its own National Drug Master Plan, now recommending the adoption of an “immediate focus” on decriminalising dagga. In a recommendation on the medical use of dagga, the authority said, “ingredients of the cannabis plant should undergo standard evaluation by the Medicines Control Council to assess benefits and risks for the treatment of particular medical conditions”. http://www.timeslive.co.za/thetimes/2016/06/02/Dopeheads-get-high-on-dagga-policy-shift South Africa – “Sizzurp” cough syrup craze hits Cape teens Parents and caregivers have been warned to hide cough syrup from their teenagers, as the American drug craze called “sizzurp” takes off on the Cape Flats. The mixture which can contain cough syrup, pain killers, sweets, fizzy drinks and alcohol is also referred to as “purple drank”, and is apparently being consumed by the litre by school children. The Western Cape Education Department said it causes feelings of euphoria, followed by a “sleepy and calm state”. The drink was made famous by various rappers and Hollywood celebrities. http://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/western-cape/rappers-cough-syrup-craze-hits-cape-teens-2028837 USA – Pennsylvania Legalizes Medical Marijuana Pennsylvania joined 23 other states in legalizing medical marijuana. Lawmakers hope pot can help curtail the state’s painkiller abuse problems. https://www.sciencedaily.com/videos/93ffef91889b3739e6beda3f3f24e87a.htmUK – More than half of UK toddler poisoning deaths caused by methadone
The number of teens being poisoned over the past 20 years has risen sharply with more than half (57{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4}) of toddler deaths from drug poisoning caused by methadone, the medicine used to help heroin addicts kick their habit. Dr. Mark Anderson, of the Great North Children’s Hospital, Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle upon Tyne, said: “It is the second most common cause of drug related death in England and Wales after heroin or morphine.” The researchers analyzed national data on childhood poisonings and hospital treatment and admissions to intensive care for unintentional poisoning between 2001 and 2013. The research came as a study by the University of Nottingham, published in the journal Injury Prevention.
Disclaimer: the views and opinions expressed in these articles do not necessarily reflect those of Doctors for Life International
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Special LIFEalert 24 May 2016
1. Paris conferences investigate gene editing technology and research ethics Gene-editing technologies such as CRISPR (Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) have immense potential for treating diseases. But they also present ethical concerns, such as modifying the germline and the consequences of altering the genetic heritage of future generations. Two conferences held in Paris to discuss the ethical issues surrounding human gene-editing research were attended by the world’s leading figures in stem cell research. Participants at the first meeting included the UK Academy of Medical Sciences and the Académie Nationale de Médecine. The second meeting the next day included European Commission representation and prominent scientists, philosophers, ethicists and lawyers from Europe, the US, Canada, China, Singapore and Malaysia. Three panels of speakers addressed the principles underlying governance, international governance perspectives, and potential applications for germline editing. The meeting wrapped up with a moderated discussion among all of the attendees. Lawyer, Caroline Simons reported on the proceedings in the stem cell lab blog of Paul Knoepfler, Associate Professor at UC Davis School of Medicine in the Department of Cell Biology and Human Anatomy. Ms. Simons made a summary of the top takeaways of the meeting. Summary: 1. Germline gene editing technologies are not ready for clinical application in humans. 2. No country has regulated specifically for these technologies, but some consider that their regulations would encompass, or at least not prohibit, somatic gene editing. 3. Most countries prohibit germline gene editing. 4. There is no support for the clinical application of germline gene editing, but there is consensus that basic research should continue. 5. There is consensus that research and, when safety and efficacy concerns are satisfied, that clinical trials of somatic gene editing should continue. 6. There is no common understanding of ‘enhancement’ and no consensus that editing to achieve it should be permitted, even in somatic cells. 7. The UK is the only country to permit mitochondrial replacement techniques (MRT), which will result in germline alteration. Neither the US nor China consider it prudent to approve MRT technology at this time. 8. There is no consensus on the status of the human embryo (or even on what is an embryo), no consensus that embryos may be created for research or that they ought to be available for research beyond the fourteenth day. 9. The scientific evidence presented in the session which considered potential applications for germline editing did not demonstrate any ‘high unmet medical need’ for germline editing at this time. In fact, Dr. Clevers couldn’t think of any situation where using CRISPR/Cas9 on an embryo would be feasible. 10. There is consensus that public discussion of gene editing technology is urgently needed and that ‘broad, informed consent’ from the public is necessary before any clinical application of gene editing in humans. http://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/paris-conference-investigates-crispr-potential/11871 http://www.ipscell.com/2016/05/meeting-report-from-april-29th-paris-human-gene-edit-meeting/#more-19391
2. Psychiatrist drops truth bomb about transgendered people
The entire notion of gender is being questioned and it is now “bigoted” to believe we live in a “gender-binary” world. The idea that humans come in only two flavours: male and female, is seen as outdated, old-fashioned, antiquated and just plain mean. Now we must accept “gender fluidity” and children as young as four are being encouraged to choose their gender identity, as if it were not a biological given. Dr. Paul R. McHugh, Distinguished Service Professor of Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University and former psychiatrist in chief who studied transgendered people for 40 years, said it is a scientific fact that “transgendered men do not become women, nor do transgendered women become men. All such people, he explained in an article for The Witherspoon Institute, “become feminized men or masculinized women, counterfeits or impersonators of the sex with which they identify.” Dr. McHugh, who was at Johns Hopkins Hospital for 26 years, the medical institute that initially pioneered sex change surgery and later ceased the practice, stressed that the cultural meme, or idea that “one’s sex is fluid and a matter of choice” is extremely damaging, especially to young people. He said that those who wish to change their gender suffer from a psychiatric condition, not an accident of birth. “Gender dysphoria, the official psychiatric term for feeling oneself to be of the opposite sex, belongs to the family of similarly disordered assumptions about the body, such as anorexia nervosa and body dysmorphic disorder,” said McHugh. “Its treatment should not be directed at the body as with surgery and hormones any more than one treats obesity fearing anorexic patients with liposuction,” he said. Perhaps the most tragic part of this new trend is the consequences. After the immense pain and hardship of transitioning, a high percentage of transgendered individuals eventually take their own lives. When “the tumult and shouting dies,” McHugh continued, “it proves not easy, nor wise to live in a counterfeit sexual garb. The most thorough follow-up of sex reassigned people, extending over 30 years, and conducted in Sweden, where the culture is strongly supportive of the transgendered, documents their lifelong mental unrest.” “Ten to 15 years after surgical reassignment, the suicide rate of those who had undergone sex-reassignment surgery rose to 20 times that of comparable peers,” said McHugh. http://www.allenbwest.com/michele/johns-hopkins-psychiatrist-drops-truth-bomb-about-transgenders-liberals-furiousDisclaimer: the views and opinions expressed in these articles do not necessarily reflect those of Doctors for Life International
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