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By Cho Jin-seo Staff Reporter Researchers found a way to clone pet cats five years ago. Now they can play a trick on their genes to change their color. A Gyeongsang National University team said they have succeeded in cloning cats after modifying a gene to change their skin color. Because of the red fluorescence protein in their skin cells, the three Turkish Angola kittens look reddish under ultraviolet light, the researchers said. The red cloned cat research is expected to be utilized in dealing with certain genetic diseases in animals and humans. It will also help reproduce rare animals,...

doi:10.1038/news.2007.173 Societies say that broad genetic testing should not be promoted. Two major societies in reproductive medicine have announced that screening for general genetic flaws in ‘test-tube’ embryos before they are implanted in the womb does not improve the chances of having a healthy baby, and so should not be promoted. The declaration sparked heated debate at the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) annual meeting in Washington DC yesterday. The ASRM and the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology (SART) used the meeting to update their policy recommendations for both preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) and preimplantation genetic screening (PGS). In...

SARAHLYNN LESTER, 32, considers herself a supporter of abortion rights. She gives money to the National Abortion Rights Action League and volunteers for Planned Parenthood. But as a woman who continued a pregnancy after learning that her child would have Down syndrome, she also has beliefs about the ethics of choosing, or not choosing, certain kinds of children. “I thought it would be morally wrong to have an abortion for a child that had a genetic disability,” said Ms. Lester, a marketing manager in St. Louis. As prenatal tests make it possible to identify fetuses that will have mental retardation,...

OTTAWA, February 8, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – This week the Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of Canada (SOGC) recommended all pregnant women to be offered non-invasive prenatal genetic screening for fetal aneuploidy (chromosomal abnormality), with a particular emphasis on Down's syndrome. The Catholic Organization for Life and Family (COLF), an entity sponsored by the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Knights of Columbus, called the proposal “a disturbing step towards eugenics in our society.” The National Post reported on January 6, 2007 that according to the executive vice president of the SOGC, this screening was being recommended "so that a...

<p>Scientists are conducting experiments to change the sexuality of “gay” sheep in a programme that critics fear could pave the way for breeding out homosexuality in humans.</p> <p>The technique being developed by American researchers adjusts the hormonal balance in the brains of homosexual rams so that they are more inclined to mate with ewes.</p>

Genetic testing is transforming medicine—and the way families think about their health. As science unlocks the intricate secrets of DNA, we face difficult choices and new challenges. Dec. 11, 2006 issue - The year is 1895 and Pauline Gross, a young seamstress, is scared. Gross knows nothing about the double helix or the human-genome project—such medical triumphs are far in thefuture. But she does know about a nasty disease called cancer, and it's running through her family. "I'm healthy now," she reportedly confides to Dr. Aldred Warthin, a pathologist at the University of Michigan, "but I fully expect to die...

Aborted baby 'not a dwarf' By GERARD McMANUS 07Apr02 THE 32-week-old baby who was terminated because doctors at the Royal Women's Hospital believed it would be born with dwarfism, may in fact have been normal, a federal MP has claimed. Handwritten theatre nurse notes written at the time the baby was delivered state that the "the baby doesn't look small" and other medical records also suggest there was considerable ambivalence about whether the baby girl was a dwarf or not. Senator Julian McGauran, who has been demanding a Medical Practitioners Board inquiry into the case, has told federal parliament that...

GREAT BRITAIN, January 6, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) –Screening unborn babies for birth defects is poised to leap to a whole new level. Research by British scientists suggests it will soon be possible to screen human embryos for thousands of genetic disorders. In most cases, current screening techniques are carried out on babies conceived through in vitro fertilization (IVF), before the child is implanted in the womb. In such cases, a child carrying a recognized genetic disorder is “discarded.”The new procedure builds upon existing methods of testing babies, conceived in vitro, for disease before they are implanted in the womb. These advances...

Since I am on the subject of movies, who remembers Gattaca? This was a movie set about 20 or 30 years in the future. Before people are born, their genes are altered to edit out any imperfections. They are stronger, smarter and faster than their natural-born counterparts and are highly unlikely ever to develop a disease. People begin to discriminate against natural-borns, those people conceived and born without the benefit of genetic enhancement. Simply hand in a job application and the skin cells you leave on the paper will be examined to determine if you have any genetic imperfections. It...

Every child born in the UK could be genetically screened and the data stored to plan their future healthcare under government proposals for a massive expansion of genetic testing. John Reid, the new Secretary of State for Health, said the UK was on the threshold of a revolution in healthcare. "Increasing understanding of genetics will bring more accurate diagnosis, more personalised prediction of risk, new gene-based drugs and therapies and better targeted prevention and treatment," he said. The controversial proposal for testing newborn babies was announced in a White Paper that promised £50m to expand the ability of the NHS...