Monthly Archives: March 2009

Check this opinion piece, from the South African newspaper, The Times: Forensics bill raises ethics issues Proposed law is not strict enough when it comes to access to people’s genetic coding, leaving this open to exploitation and abuse, writes Mary … Continue reading →

From Knowledge@Wharton: A World Transformed: What Are the Top 30 Innovations of the Last 30 Years? Is it possible to determine which 30 innovations have changed life most dramatically during the past 30 years? That is the question that Nightly … Continue reading →

From Fox News: After Criticism, Fertility Clinic Halts Delivery of Designer Babies The Fertility Institutes in Los Angeles, which last month said it would soon help couples select a baby’s gender and physical traits when undergoing a form of fertility … Continue reading →

Here are two bioindustry lawyers, writing in Bioworld: What to Think About When Considering an Overseas Clinical Trial Program To remain competitive, drug, device and biotechnology companies must continually pursue innovative new products and product improvements. Clinical trials are essential … Continue reading →

From Genetic Future: Growth in commercial disease gene tests, 2008 update… I just noticed that GeneTests, a voluntary listing of US and international laboratories offering in-house genetic tests, has released an updated version of their graph of commercially available tests:

From Bjorn Lomborg, writing in City: Another Green Revolution Shortly after the Second World War, a “Green Revolution” began to transform agriculture around the globe, allowing food production to keep pace with worldwide population growth. By means of irrigation, fertilizer, … Continue reading →

From The Orlando Sentinel: Genetic privacy: Who is testing your DNA? Test Infidelity is just one of dozens of U.S. companies offering to test DNA taken without the knowledge of the people concerned. Many firms advertise infidelity testing services or … Continue reading →

Press release: Abandoning Bio-Ethics Will Damage New Zealand Friday, 13 March 2009, 9:48 amPress Release: GE Free NZGE Free New ZealandIn Food And Environment Inc.http://www.gefree.org.nz Abandoning Bio-Ethics Will Damage New Zealand New Zealand’s world-wide reputation will be undermined if the … Continue reading →

Google Co-Founder Backs Vast Parkinson’s Study Sergey Brin, the billionaire co-founder of Google, says he plans to contribute money and his DNA to a large study intended to reveal the genetic underpinnings of Parkinson’s disease. The study, to be announced … Continue reading →

The biotech industry is famous for hype. But even the most enthusiastic sales-pitch should stop short of implying that a company can violate the laws of physics. For example: From Nature Biotech (Jan. 2009) Biotech’s green gold? Valcent Products, a … Continue reading →