Six Developments in the World of Bioethics

 ‘Three-person IVF’ technique moves closer
. Public opinion will help decide the future of a controversial genetic technique to stop serious conditions being passed from mother to child (read about it in the BBC News). The technique involves taking material from two different eggs and combining them to produce a healthy one. Would you want to be the human who gets to be the “trial” to see how well it works? Me, either.

Brain Support Cells From Umbilical Cord Stem Cells
. For the first time ever, (adult) stem cells from umbilical cords have been converted into other types of cells, which may lead to new treatment options for spinal cord injuries and nervous system diseases, including multiple sclerosis. (See the article at Medical News Today.)

Artificial Testicle Could Make Sperm for Infertile Men
. Researchers in California are attempting to make an artificial testicle that will produce human sperm (see ABC News). But the director of the fertility program at USC said it won’t be easy. “The processing of DNA is very complicated to go from a regular cell to a germ cell” like sperm, which have half the number of chromosomes as other cells in the body. Not only do you have to split the chromosomes in half, but you also have to package the DNA in a very specific way. I think it will be quite challenging.”

Stop gendercide. Selective abortions are prompting a call for ultrasound rules
. Such rules would require waiting until after 30 weeks or pregnancy for a fetus’s gender to be revealed. According to an editorial in the Canadian Medical Journal (CBC News), in countries such as India, China, DeKorea, and Vietnam, female fetuses are commonly aborted because of a preference for sons. Though by no means widespread, the practice is also carried out by some immigrants to Canada. Waiting to disclose gender till 30 weeks or later could help prevent discrimination against females.

U.S. doctors and researchers have too many conflicts of interest. That’s the opinion of the U.S. government, which is now poised to require drug companies to disclose the payments they make to doctors for research, consulting, speaking, travel, and entertainment (see story in the NY Times).

Abort half a pregnancy? Abortions—selective reductions—to reduce twin pregnancies down to singletons bother the consciences of many pro-choicers. The Slate explores why.