Bill C-13, An Act Respecting Human Reproduction and Related Technologies, hangs in limbo as the federal government seems unsure of whether it has enough support to get it passed. As a sign of its desperation to enact the reproductive technologies legislation, the government has indicated that the vote will not be a free one. It has also suggested to Liberal MP Paul [...]
Life, Liberty and the Defense of Dignity: The Challenge for Bioethics By Leon R. Kass M.D. (Encounter Books, 313 pgs $39.50) Two hundred years ago, the poet William Wordsworth assessed the human condition, asking: "Have I not reason to lament/ What man has made of man?" At the dawn of the third millennium, technology has the human condition itself within its power; [...]
British pro-life campaigners are critical of a High Court ruling that has awarded compensation to a couple because their daughter was born with Down syndrome. The ruling, handed down by Mr. Justice Morland, suggests that a doctor's strong Catholic faith influenced his treatment of a patient, as well as his failure to send her for an amniocentesis test. Dr. George Tse Sak [...]
Researchers in China have announced the successful creation of animal-human chimeras which have survived till the blastocyst stage - at which point they can extract stem cells. The study which is published in the current issue of the peer reviewed journal Cell Research notes that human skin cells were fused with rabbit ova which had their nuclei removed to produce the cloned [...]
Infertility has become an epidemic in the Western world. One out of six couples are seeking some sort of medical intervention to help them conceive. This has led to an explosion in the use of in-vitro fertilization by couples desperate to expand their families. It is estimated that over 40,000 "IVF babies" were born last year to satisfy their parents' desires to [...]
What is arguably the most influential medical journal in the world has announced that it will publish more studies on embryonic stem cell research in order to build more public support for such science. New England Journal of Medicine editor Dr. Jeffrey M. Drazen was quoted recently in the Boston Globe as saying that, "Nothing is better for a field than true [...]
The findings of a recent study conducted by the Royal Victoria Hospital in Montreal show an increase in the number of unborn children killed due to advanced methods of prenatal screening. A story appearing in a recent issue of The Medical Post quoted Dr. Surindra Maraj, a doctor at the hospital and a co- author of the study: "We knew ultrasound screening [...]
Soon after LifeSite News published an expose on The Arthritis Society, revealing a position paper and statements by TAS President and CEO Denis Morrice in support of funding embryonic stem cell research, the Knights of Columbus met with the charity The Knights of Columbus of Ontario, which has given the organization some $15 million, expressed its concerns to members of the TAS [...]
When Dr. M told me, two years ago, that I had multiple myeloma, he added that a) the disease is incurable, b) at my age (68), I could expect to die of it in five years. Unless, that is, c) I agreed to have an autologous peripheral stem cell transplantation, in which case I would probably be around for another two. No [...]
As we report on page 3, the Canadian Institutes for Health Research has gone ahead with its own plans on funding and regulating embryonic stem cell research, despite the fact that legislation on this issue is currently before the House of Commons. The announcement by the federally funded medical research agency's president, Dr. Alan Bernstein, has been condemned in Parliament by MPs [...]
The Canadian Institutes for Health Research has shown blatant disregard for parliamentary prerogative with its announcement that it will go ahead and fund embryonic stem cell research, despite the fact that legislation dealing with the issue is currently before the House of Commons. The CIHR, a government-supported medical research agency, is tired of waiting for Parliament to act and will proceed to [...]
One of the most puzzling questions regarding stem cell research has been: why are researchers so hungry for embryonic stem cells, despite the controversy and dangers over their use, and at the same time, seem to be shunning non-controversial and much more successful adult stem cells? MP Paul Szabo, the resident expert on the matter in the Canadian House of Commons, posited [...]
Back in 1997, pro-life activist Cynthia Chauncey wrote a letter to the editor about Dolly, the world's first un-fathered sheep. "What is Dolly's real age?" she asked. "Does she start at zero like other newborns? Or is she the same age as her mother? More importantly, will they get the symptoms and ailments of old age at the same time? After all, [...]
There wasn't just cloning around happening when the Toronto chapter of the Raelian movement held a lecture on "Human Cloning: A Giant Step Forward for Humankind" in the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education building at the University of Toronto Feb. 26. The movement, considered a cult by most, gained notoriety recently when it claimed to have produced five cloned babies through [...]
As if the March of Dimes's support for eugenics and abortions in cases of fetal abnormality were not enough, pro-lifers now have an additional reason not to give money to the the charity. The Eliott Institute has pointed out that the MOD refuses to admit that abortion is a major risk factor in the low birth weight of subsequent babies. In announcing [...]