News by Subject Policy & Ethics

An independent inquiry by the Nuffield Council on Bioethics has concluded that editing the DNA of a human embryo, sperm, or egg to influence the characteristics of a future person ('heritable genome editing') could be morally permissible. If that is to happen, a number of measures would need to be put in place first to ensure that genome editing proceeds in ways that are ethically acceptable.

A trade deal between the UK and USA could risk increasing drug prices in the UK, which could diminish the affordability and accessibility of the NHS, according to a Viewpoint published in The Lancet.

One of the first studies to examine the health impacts of marriage for LGBT individuals shows that legalizing same-sex marriage improved health care access for gay men.

Seeking abortion medications online can be a response to clinic access barriers both in states with and without restrictive abortion laws and can occur when self-managed abortion is preferred over clinical care. Researchers found that online options either offer information about how to correctly and safely use abortion medications or sell the required medications, but not both, and lack of trusted online options can delay care and lead to consideration of ineffective or unsafe alternatives.

When conducting research involving the testing of human biospecimens, investigators and their institutions should routinely consider whether and how to return individual research results on a study-specific basis through an informed decision-making process, says a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Decisions on whether to return individual research results will vary depending on the characteristics of the research, the nature of the results, and the interests of participants.

Antibiotic prescribing rates are not affected (to a statistically significant degree) when physicians have access to a parent-focused booklet on childhood fever but do decrease if the booklet is used.

Specific immune danger signals are highly efficient in triggering immune responses in infants and newborns, whose immune systems function very differently to those of adults. The scientists believe their discovery could reduce both the age at which vaccines can be first administered, and the need for multiple booster shots.