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BioNews, published by the Progress Educational Trust (PET), provides accurate, balanced, and timely news and comment on genetics, assisted conception, embryo/stem cell research and related areas. The website has an RSS feed and twitter feed, and you can subscribe to the BioNews email newsletter for free.

	TOP NEWS STORIES

Vitamin D's possible effect on our genes

31 August 2010 - by Julianna Photopoulos

Researchers from the UK and Canada have identified 229 human genes that are influenced by changes in vitamin D levels. Several of these genes are implicated in cancers and autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis (MS), Type 1 diabetes, lupus, and rheumatoid arthritis....[Read More]

US judge rules against Obama's stem cell policy

31 August 2010 - by Antony Blackburn-Starza

A ruling of a district federal judge has halted federally-funded embryonic stem cell research in the United States...[Read More]

UK may allow payments for gamete donors

31 August 2010 - by Rose Palmer

Egg and sperm donors in the UK could receive increased compensation under new proposals aimed at reducing the number of couples travelling abroad for treatment...[Read More]

	RECENT COMMENT

Will the public trust a single regulator for research?

30 August 2010 - by Simon Denegri

In these uncertain times, a single regulator for research is one of the safer bets you might place....[Read More]

From principles to practice: the shifting regulatory landscape for consumer genetics

27 August 2010 - by Dr Stuart Hogarth and Professor David Melzer

Earlier this month the UK's Human Genetics Commission (HGC) published a new document entitled 'A Common Framework of Principles for Direct-to-Consumer Genetic Testing Services' in a bid to define standards for this emergent sector...[Read More]

Wither the HFEA and the fate of donor registers?

23 August 2010 - by Professor Eric Blyth, School of Human and Health Sciences, University of Huddersfield; Dr Marilyn Crawshaw, Department of Social Policy and Social Work, University of York; Dr Lucy Frith, Institute of Psychology, Health and Society, University of Liverpool; Dr Caroline Jones, School of Law, University of Southampton; Dr Jennifer Speirs, Honorary Research Fellow, Department of Social Anthropology, University of Edinburgh.

The UK government's review of Arm's-Length Bodies (ALB) in the National Health Service has indicated that the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has had its day as a free-standing regulatory body...[Read More]

	LATEST REVIEWS

TV Review: When Cousins Marry (Dispatches)

31 August 2010 - by Professor Sandy Raeburn

Why am I criticising a campaign to reduce the incidence of severe autosomal recessive diseases? After all, I spent five years of my 40-year clinical career in medical genetics living in Oman - a Muslim country where over 50 per cent of marriages are consanguineous? Let's dig deeper!...[Read More]

Book Review: Bioequity - Property and the Human Body

19 August 2010 - by Antony Blackburn-Starza

In 2008 Exeter County Court put an end to claims brought by six men who on being diagnosed with cancer decided to store their sperm for potential future insemination before undergoing chemotherapy treatment should the effects of the treatment permanently impair their fertility...[Read More]

Test Tube Families: Why The Fertility Market Needs Legal Regulation

16 August 2010 - by Naomi Moskovic

This book is written by a lawyer who is both an expert in family law, and also, as she puts it herself 'a player in the fertility game'. Cahn is a research Professor of Law at Washington University Law School, and this book examines the position under US law.