Not with a bang, but a whimper: the quiet demise of embryonic stem cell research

June 4, 2013 (Mercatornet.com) – Let’s wind the clock back to 2003. In January wheelchair-bound quadriplegic actor Christopher Reeve visited Australia to promote the legalisation of “therapeutic cloning”. This was absolutely necessary, he said, or patients would die needlessly. Scepticism about the potential of embryonic stem cells was utterly unwarranted. “That’s a myth,” he told his Australian…

California Cloning Bill Will Exploit Poor Women in Egg Selling Scheme

Back when Proposition 71 was being pitched–which created the California Institute For Regenerative Medicine–opponents warned that making human cloning a state constitutional right would result in the exploitation of poor women for their eggs–needed in every attempt at SCNT cloning. Responding, supporters promised to prohibit egg buying as an expedient to pass the measure. Now, it’s…

Warrior Mothers, Miracle Daughters: China’s Battle for Life

For many Chinese women, keeping a daughter is a battle—and the stakes are unthinkably high. A Chinese woman may not become pregnant without the government’s permission. Under China’s One-Child Policy, all couples must apply for a birth permit before starting a pregnancy. Nearly two-thirds of Chinese couples (more than 900 million people) may have only…