LIFEalerts 18 August 2014

Abortion USA – Texas abortions down 13{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} due to new law, study says Alternative Medicine No news today Euthanasia Australia – Nitschke suspended from medical register Lithuania – Euthanasia could be option for poor, says health minister HIV/AIDS No news today Homosexuality UN – Human Rights Council Passes Resolution to “Protect the Family USA – All homosexuals should take ARV drugs USA – States against Bills That Seek to Ban Conversion Therapy UK – Stonewall chief targets under-fives IVF & Surrogacy Thailand – Crackdown on surrogacy Medical Ethics USA – Have some American homeless become lab rats? USA – Botched execution sparks outcry Pedophilia UK – ‘Pedophilia is natural and normal for males’ USA – Google ‘reveals user’ over G-mail child abuse images Pornography USA – Planned Parenthood Promoting X-Rated Advice to Underage Girls Prostitution &Trafficking Philippines – Legal prostitution won’t stop HIV, says prostitute Stem Cells & Cloning No news today Substance Abuse USA – Cannabis dependence alters brain’s response to drug paraphernalia USA – Welfare Cash for Weed in Colorado USA – FDA to Consumers: Avoid Powdered Caffeine USA – Synthetic marijuana blamed for sickening 15 over 4 days in NYC   Abortion   USA – Texas abortions down 13{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} due to new law, study says Texas abortion facilities will perform nearly 10,000 fewer procedures this year, according to a new study attributing the 13 percent drop to the state’s adoption of some of the tightest abortion restrictions in the country. State Rep. Jeff Leach, R-Plano said “We are reassured and encouraged to hear that 9,200 lives annually are being saved as a result of House Bill 2.” The legislation, which sparked a fierce debate and nationally watched filibuster, banned most abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, restricted medical abortions using pills and required doctors who perform abortions to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals, among other provisions. http://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/politics/texas/article/Study-Abortion-rate-falls-under-new-Texas-law-5642369.php   Alternative Medicine No news today Euthanasia Australia – Nitschke suspended from medical register The Medical Board of Australia has decided to suspend Nitschke after he admitted to supporting Nigel Brayley in his decision to commit suicide, despite not being terminally ill. The board said that Nitschke “presented a serious risk to the health and safety of the public”. Nitschke called the decision “political“ and “a dirty little midnight assassination“ aimed at silencing him.  He has vowed to fight the suspension. Beyond Blue spokesperson Jeff Kennett welcomed the decision, saying, “We cannot allow the debate to start that it’s alright for a 16-year-old, or a 45-year-old, simply because they’re having an off day, to attempt to take their own life. It is not acceptable.” http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/11066 Lithuania – Health minister: Euthanasia could be option for poor The health minister of Lithuania without making any specific proposals told local media that Lithuania was not a welfare state with palliative care available for all, especially the poor, and that euthanasia might be an option for people who did not want to torment relatives with the spectacle of their suffering. The minister has also raised the idea of euthanasia for children. Dr Andrius Narbekovas, who is both a priest and a doctor, and a member of the Health Ministry’s bioethics commission, told the media: “The Ministry of Health should protect health and life, instead of looking for ways to take life away.” http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/11071 HIV/AIDS & STI’s No news today <Back to Top> Homosexuality UN – Human Rights Council Passes Resolution to “Protect the Family The Human Rights Council adopted a resolution on “Protection of the Family” with a traditional definition of the family last Thursday. It recognizes the importance of the family for society and individuals, and that countries must strengthen and protect the family. The resolution not only echoes language from the U.N.’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights about the family as the “natural and fundamental unit of society,” it also states that the family is the “natural environment” for the education and development of children. The resolution passed by a comfortable margin, with 26 votes for, 14 against, and 6 abstentions. It was greeted by thunderous applause. http://c-fam.org/en/issues/un-organizations/7900-u-n-resolution-on-the-family-dampens-gay-pride-festivities USA – All homosexuals should take ARV drugs “Rates of HIV infection among men who have sex with men remain high almost everywhere and new prevention options are urgently needed,” said the World Health Organization (WHO). The likelihood of a homosexual who will become infected is approximately 19 times greater than the general population, the agency reported. Female sex workers, WHO estimates, are 14 times more likely to have HIV than other women. So now, for the first time, the WHO is strongly recommending that men who have sex with other men consider antiretroviral medications to help prevent HIV infection. The approach, called pre-exposure prophylaxis, calls for the no inflected to take a preventive pill every day. http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/07/14/citing-exploding-hiv-epidemic-who-says-for-first-time-all-gay-men-should-take-antitretroviral-drugs/ USA – States against Bills That Seek to Ban Conversion Therapy While two states have successfully banned conversion therapy for homosexual youth, a majority of state legislatures have voted down bills that would implement such bans after hearing the testimonies of ex-gays who say they’ve benefited from sexual orientation change therapy.  Proposed bans similar to California’s and New Jersey’s laws prohibiting sexual orientation change therapy, or Sexual orientation change efforts for minors have been voted down or withdrawn in Virginia, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, New York, Washington, Ohio, Florida, Wisconsin, Hawaii and Rhode Island. http://www.christianpost.com/news/majority-of-states-are-blocking-bills-that-seek-to-ban-conversion-therapy-for-gay-youth-123953/ UK – Stonewall chief targets under-fives The new chief executive of LGBT activist group, Stonewall, has called for preschool children to be taught to “celebrate” being gay as part of a proposed Government-funded campaign to tackle ‘homophobia’ in schools. Ruth Hunt said she wanted Stonewall to commission a series of books “celebrating difference in all its forms” to encourage under-fives to “think about different families”, including same-sex households. Ms Hunt said that the proposed initiative had the backing of the new Equalities Minister and Education Secretary, Nicky Morgan, who last year voted against the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act. http://www.christianconcern.com/our-concerns/education/new-stonewall-chief-plans-to-target-under-fives-with-gay-propaganda IVF &Surrogacy Thailand – Crackdown on surrogacy An Australian couple who commissioned a surrogate mother abandoned a Down syndrome twin and left him with his impoverished mother. The story of 21-year-old Pattharamon Janbua, who is married with 2 children, emerged as the couple asked her to abort the Down syndrome boy, but she refused. This is “an incredibly sad story,” said Prime Minister Tony Abbott. “I guess it illustrates some of the pitfalls involved in this particular business.” The Thai government plans to ban commercial surrogacy. From now on, the intended parents have to be married, heterosexual and medically infertile, the transaction must be altruistic, and the surrogate must be related to the intended parents. http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/11083 Medical Ethics USA – Have some American homeless become lab rats? An article written by bioethicist Carl Elliott, “The Best-Selling, Billion-Dollar Pills Tested on Homeless People: How the destitute and the mentally ill are being used as human lab rats” says it all. Elliott investigates in Philadelphia, with a large homeless population, medical schools and pharma companies. He says companies run clinical trials, even for dangerous drugs, cheaper and faster than universities. The companies pay participants and for the destitute and mentally ill, it is money for jam. He writes: “None of the bioethicists or review board managers I spoke to were willing to publicly defend paying mentally ill homeless subjects to take part in clinical trials, although most did not seem especially surprised to hear that the practice was occurring. http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/11082 USA – Botched execution sparks outcry Joseph Rudolph Wood took almost two hours to die after being injected with midazolam and hydromorphone, a new barbiturate combination being trialled in some US states. “I counted 660 times that he gasped,” said  journalist Michael Kiefer. Shortly after the execution, Arizona governor Jan Brewer issued a statement in which she ordered a full review of the execution process. She was nevertheless adamant that the execution had been lawful and did not involve undue pain. “What happened today to Mr. Wood was an experiment that the state did its best to hide,” Arizona  ACLU Director Alessandra Soler said. The new drugs being used are intended to replace others that pharmaceutical companies now refuse to sell to US correctional facilities. http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/11067  Pedophilia UK – ‘Pedophilia is natural and normal for males’ The statement that pedophilia is “natural and normal” was made not three decades ago but last July. It was made not in private but as one of the central claims of an academic presentation delivered to many of the key experts in the field at a conference held by the University of Cambridge. The Cambridge University conference, on July last year, was about the classification of sexuality in the DSM. Other presentations included “Liberating the pedophile: a discursive analysis,” and “Danger and difference: the stakes of hebephilia. Unnoticed amid the furore is a much more current threat: attempts, right now, in parts of the academic establishment to push the boundaries on the acceptability of child sex. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/10948796/Paedophilia-is-natural-and-normal-for-males.html USA – Google ‘reveals user’ over G-mail child abuse images Google has revealed the identity of a user after discovering child abuse imagery in the man’s G-mail account. David Drummond, the chief legal officer for Google, has previously said while” there is no simple technology fix “to eradicating images of child abuse online the company is “committed to do everything possible to stop the distribution of this awful content.” http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-28639628 Pornography USA – Planned Parenthood Promoting X-Rated Advice to Underage Girls Another Planned Parenthood clinic has been caught on camera providing X-rated advice to underage girls. Some girls like being “spanked,” “hit,” or “whipped,” said the counsellor. Other instructions ranged from encouraging the minor to read “Kama Sutra” books to watching “educational pornos” online. This is not the stuff of sex education, but rather a disturbing ideology consciously being pushed on our nation’s youth. The Daily Signal previously reported on Planned Parenthood staffers promoting controversial sexual behaviors to minors in Denver, where one counsellor suggested a 15-year-old girl read the erotic novel “Fifty Shades of Grey” and search online “to see kind of how they execute it.” http://www.teaparty.org/another-planned-parenthood-caught-promoting-x-rated-advice-underage-girls-48824/ Prostitution & Trafficking Philippines – Legal prostitution won’t stop HIV, says prostitute Carla Soledad said she is not happy being a prostitute. At the convention of HIV-AIDS experts this week, women were placed in the spotlight after some sectors pushed for the legalization of prostitution as a prescription to stop the spread of HIV. According to Carla she doesn’t know about legalizing prostitution as a way to protect them because they are not supposed to be there in the first place, “Legalizing prostitution is not the solution to decreasing the infection. Are we sending the message to the future generation that selling your body for sex is a viable job? Legalizing prostitution is not the answer.” http://www.ucanews.com/news/legal-prostitution-wont-stop-hiv-says-philippines-sex-worker/71514 Stem Cells & Cloning No news today Substance Abuse USA – Cannabis dependence alters the brain’s response to drug paraphernalia New research from The University of Texas at Dallas, published in Drug and Alcohol Dependence, demonstrated that different areas of the brain activated when dependent and non-dependent users were exposed to drug-related cues. To find this effect, Dr. Francesca Filbey and colleagues conducted brain-imaging scans, called functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), on 71 participants who regularly used marijuana. While being scanned, the participants were given either a used marijuana pipe or a pencil of approximately the same size that they could see and feel. “We found that the reward network is actually being driven by other areas unrelated to reward, like the areas in memory and attention or emotion,” Filbey said. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/07/140716090846.htm USA – Welfare Cash for Weed in Colorado For the past six months since legalized cannabis, welfare beneficiaries in Colorado have withdrawn their cash benefits at cannabis (marijuana) retailers and dispensaries at least 259 times, according to a new analysis by National Review Online (NRO). These beneficiaries used their electronic-benefit transfer (EBT) cards to access public assistance, withdrawing a total of $23,608.53 in Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) cash, NRO’s examination found. These withdrawals are only a fraction of the more than 500,000 total EBT transactions that have occurred since recreational weed became legal in Colorado. But one wonders how much of that welfare money was also used to buy pot. In 2012, Colorado alone used $124 million in TANF money from the federal government. http://www.nationalreview.com/article/383334/welfare-cash-weed-colorado-jillian-kay-melchior USA – FDA to Consumers: Avoid Powdered Caffeine The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a warning, suggesting that Americans avoid powdered caffeine. The decision was likely triggered by the death of an 18-year-old Logan Steiner, who accidentally overdosed on the powdered version of the stimulant this May. The FDA is particularly concerned about bulk bags of powdered caffeine being sold over the internet. The product is essentially 100 percent caffeine, with one teaspoon of the substance roughly equivalent to the amount of caffeine in 25 cups of coffee. Even very small amounts can cause an overdose. http://www.fda.gov/food/recallsoutbreaksemergencies/safetyalertsadvisories/ucm405787.htm USA – Synthetic marijuana blamed for sickening 15 over 4 days in NYC Synthetic cannabis is getting New Yorkers dangerously high and making them gravely ill, with more than a dozen people hospitalized in the past few days after smoking the imitation pot, city officials said. The marijuana-like substance has left 15 people with “severe adverse effects” since Thursday, causing reactions including seizures and hallucinations, according to the NYC’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.“K2, Spice, Green Giant — no matter what you call it, synthetic cannabinoids are dangerous and illegal,” said Health Commissioner Dr. Mary Bassett. http://nypost.com/2014/07/27/fake-marijuana-blamed-for-sickening-15-over-4-days-in-yc Disclaimer: the views and opinions expressed in these articles do not necessarily reflect those of Doctors for Life International]]>