Monthly Archives: April 2009

Old laws don’t always fit new technologies well. Intellectual property laws, for example, have been an awkward fit with modern discoveries in genetics (hence the debate over patenting genes). Similarly, privacy laws may run aground with regard to genetic testing: … Continue reading →

From the Genetic Future blog: 23andMe targeting pregnant women using “mommy bloggers” Personal genomics company 23andMe has just launched an online community of “mommy bloggers” – a move I can only describe as sheer marketing genius. I’ll give you a … Continue reading →

From the Boston Globe: Recession spurs egg and sperm donations Charitable donations may be down because of the recession, but another type of donation is up for the very same reason: egg and sperm. More women are trying to make … Continue reading →

(Not exactly from a neutral news source. But still…interesting.) From the Natural News blog: South African GMO Crop Failure Highlights Dangers of Food Supply Domination Farmers in South Africa have suffered millions of dollars in lost income due to the … Continue reading →

From the Journal of New England Technology: George Church creates building block for ‘artificial life’ he man who mapped the human genome is now doing a major follow up by creating the components of synthetic life, offering potential biotechnology breakthroughs … Continue reading →

Over on my Business Ethics Blog, I’ve blogged quite a bit about ethical issues in food biotechnology over the last 3 years. It thought it might be useful to gather some of those blog entries together, here, for the convenience … Continue reading →

From the Milford Daily News: Biotech companies testify on data mining Drug makers and health insurance officials challenged a proposed law that would limit information about which medicines are the most popular in Massachusetts, saying that a ban on “data … Continue reading →

Check out this debate, from The Economist: The ethics of DNA databasing The claim being debated: “People’s DNA sequences are their business, and nobody else’s.” The participants in the debate are one of the world’s leading bioethicists, and one of … Continue reading →

From the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: Pitt researcher again pursues cloning patent A University of Pittsburgh stem cell researcher has renewed his efforts to win a patent on a process to clone human embryonic stem cells, despite lingering questions from his past … Continue reading →

Check out this largely-reputation-based ranking of multinational health companies by Covalence: Covalence Ethical Ranking 2008 for the Health Care sector. (Released 2 months ago, in January.) Rank | Company 1. GlaxoSmithKline2. Johnson & Johnson3. Abbott4. Bristol Myers Squibb5. Boehringer Ingelheim6. … Continue reading →