SCBE In The News

April 2004

04/29/04
World News Tonight (ABC)

A website promoting the new movie Godsend advertises reproductive cloning services, and some worry that people might think the "Godsend Institute" is real. David Magnus, co-director of the Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics, was interviewed by the ABC news program, as well as TechTV.

04/28/04
Brain Boosting
ABCNews.com
Some experts are concerned that we are on the brink of changing what it means to be human by enhancing healthy brains. Judy Illes, senior research scholar at the Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics, provides comment in this article.

04/27/04
Carbon Kitty's $50,000 Price Tag
BBCNews.com
Genetic Savings & Clone, a company based in Sausalito, is offering to clone cats for $50,000. David Magnus provides comment.

04/27/04
Athletes Through Science
Miami Herald
This article discusses the future possibility of testing the human brain to determine which players might be the next NFL superstars. Judy Illes, senior research scholar at the Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics, provides comment.

04/27/04
Drug (Mis)used As Brain Booster
Contra Costa Times
Judy Illes is featured in this article about the increased use of Ritalin as a cognitive performance enhancer.

04/23/04
Genetic Revolution?
Capitol Times (Madison, Wis.)
Henry Greely and Barbara Koenig, both with the Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics, are quoted in this article on the annual Bioethics Forum that began in Madison, Wis. on Thurs.

04/22/04
Mouse made by two mothers raises questions
San Jose Mercury News (registration required)
Scientists in Japan have shown for the first time how mammals can reproduce without a male. David Magnus, co-director of the Stanford University of Biomedical Ethics, comments on the creation of the first parthenogenetic mouse in this editorial. Magnus is also quoted in articles in the San Francisco Chronicle and on ABCNews.com.

04/22/04
Doug Moe: Kitty cloners won't come here
The Capital Times (Madison, Wis.)
David Magnus, Ph.D.
is referenced in this opinion piece about Genetic Savings & Clone, the controversial company that is offering to clone cats for $50,000.

04/21/04
World News Tonight (ABC)
David Magnus, Ph.D., was prominently featured in this segment on the creation of the first parthenogenetic mouse.

04/19/04
Ethics Of Boosting Brainpower Debated By Researchers
News Release
Questions being raised by modern neuroscience were the topic of a meeting of neuroscientists, ethicists and psychologists funded by the National Science Foundation and the New York Academy of Sciences. The group was led by Judy Illes, senior research scholar in biomedical ethics and in radiology.

4/19/04
Hollywood Takes A Look At Cloning--And Opens Up A Can Of Worms

San Francisco Chronicle
This article discusses the web marketing of a new film called Godsend. A website for the fictional Godsend Institute advertises reproductive cloning services, and some worry that people might think the institute is real. David Magnus, co-director of the Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics, provides comment.

4/16/04
This Kind Of Clone Is The Cat's Meow/How Much Do You Really Miss Your Long-Dead Kitty?

Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Genetic Savings & Clone, a company based in Sausalito, is offering to clone cats for $50,000. David Magnus provides comment. (For a faxed copy of this article, please contact our office: 723-6911.)

04/16/04
Boston Globe
Wheel Opportunity

Stanford medical student and wheelchair marathon racer Cheri Blauwet is featured in this piece. Blauwet, who was one of 10 nominees for the Women's Sports Foundation's 2003 Sportswoman of the Year award, is training for the Boston Marathon.

04/15/04
Osgood File (CBS Radio)
David Magnus, co-director of the Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics, discussed the ethics of producing babies outside of the womb and inside a lab. Magnus also discussed pet cloning in a separate piece on KPIX-TV.

04/15/04
Here, Kitty-Kitty-Kitty-Kitty
San Francisco Chronicle
Genetic Savings & Clone, a company based in Sausalito, is offering to clone cats for $50,000. David Magnus, co-director of the Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics, provides comment.

04/14/04
To Many, Using Ritalin To Think Faster Looks A Lot Like Cheating
Billings Gazette (Billings, Mont.)
Judy Illes, senior research scholar at the Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics, is featured in this article about the increased use of Ritalin as a cognitive performance enhancer.

04/09/04
Pope Backs Feeding Tubes, Riles Catholic Hospitals
Duluth News Tribune (Duluth, Minn.)
Pope John Paul II pronounced that it is a moral obligation to feed patients who are in comas. David Magnus, co-director of the Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics, provides comment in this article, which also appears in the Aberdeen American News (Aberdeen, S.D.).

04/07/04
To Many, Using Ritalin To Think Faster Looks A Lot Like Cheating
Fort Wayne News Sentinel (Fort Wayne, Ind.)
Judy Illes, senior research scholar at the Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics, is featured in this article about the increased use of Ritalin as a cognitive performance enhancer.

04/05/04
Law Faculty Gains $2m Research Project
Otago Daily Times (New Zealand)
The University of Otago has been awarded $2 million by the New Zealand Law Foundation to research the legal implications of human genome-linked technologies. Mildred Cho, senior research scholar in the Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics, will participate in the research. (For a faxed copy of this article, please contact our office: 723-6911.)

04/03/04
Feeding Tubes Are Obligatory, Pope Says
San Jose Mercury News
Pope John Paul II pronounced that it is a moral obligation to feed patients who are in comas. David Magnus, with the Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics, provides comment.  The article also appears in the Contra Costa Times.

04/02/04
Paula Zahn Now (CNN)
David Magnus
discussed the use of a drug that Harvard doctors want to use to "erase" or reduce intensified memories stemming from post-traumatic stress disorder. Magnus expressed concern over the possible misuse of the drug.

04/01/04
It's Life, But Not As God Planned It: Attempts To Create Synthetic Life In A Laboratory Are No Longer Science Fiction
The Guardian (London)
Mildred Cho
, senior research scholar in the Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics, is quoted in this article on designer organisms. (For a faxed copy of this article, please contact our office: 723-6911.)