Scientists begin mapping the genetic blueprint of babies for hundreds of diseases amid raging ethical debate

By Associated Press

PUBLISHED: 12:03 EST, 7 October 2013

This healthy baby girl, Amelia Sloan, became a pioneer for gene mapping shortly after her birth.

Amelia is part of a large research project outside the U.S. capital that is decoding the DNA of hundreds of infants.

New parents in a few other cities soon can start signing up for smaller studies to explore what’s called genome sequencing – fully mapping someone’s genes to look for health risks and should become a part of newborn care.

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Baby Amelia: Holly Sloan interacts with her baby Amelia at their home in Warrenton, Virginia (Amelia is part of a large genetic project in the U.S)

However, it’s full of ethical challenges.

Should parents be told only about childhood threats? Or would they also want to learn if their babies carried a key gene for, say, breast cancer after they’re grown?

Could knowing about future risks alter how a family treats an otherwise healthy youngster? And how accurate is this technology. Could it raise too many false alarms?

Fatwa for make-up: Islamists target women in rebel-controlled Syrian territories

AFP Photo / Karim Sahib

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Syrian rebels have issued a ban on women using make up or wearing “immodest dress” in a neighborhood in the city of Aleppo. Critics have blasted the move as another attempt by Islamists to impose Sharia in rebel-controlled territory.

The fatwa (an order based on Sharia law) was issued by the Islamic law council in Aleppo’s Fardous neighborhood.

“Muslim women are banned from leaving the house in immodest dress, in tight clothing that shows off their bodies or wearing makeup on their face. It is incumbent on all our sisters to obey God and commit to Islamic etiquette,” the statement on the Fardous council’s Facebook page says as cited by Reuters, which reports that Aleppo residents have confirmed the news.  

Chinese doctors nearly come to blows at bedside of terminal patient over who gets his organs

Rival Chinese doctors nearly came to blows after attempting, quite literally, to win over the heart of a terminal patient.

Photo: Alamy

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Xu Bao, a cancer patient in the Chinese city of Hefei, had agreed to donate his corneas and other organs after his death, according to local media reports.

But when representatives from two different transplant groups arrived at his bedside to arrange the donations – in one case bearing flowers – the scene degenerated into a verbal fight over which side would get the organs.

Zhang Yidong, a friend of the terminally ill patient, told the Global Times newspaper the doctors began “bickering for Xu’s body parts” while the patient was still in the room.

“Xu felt terrible and decided to renege,” Mr Zhang said, adding that his friend’s dream of donating his organs had been “ruined”.

A local television reporter who had been at the hospital to document Mr Xu’s selfless act told the Nandu Daily newspaper the standoff had been “awkward”.

The unseemly squabble may be explained by China’s chronic shortage of organ donors. About 1.5 million Chinese people need transplants but a lack of donors mean only 10,000 are performed each year, China’s state-run CCTV reported last year.

“Currently, a vast majority of organs come from executed felons,” the channel admitted.

Last year health authorities announced they would seek to limit the use of organs from executed prisoners over the coming years. Officials said the country would instead rely on a new national donation system for organ transplants.

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