“Latest Stem Cells News”

Although a growing number of people today are stricken with cancer – the leading cause of death in France since 2004 – their risk of succumbing to this disease is dropping. Nationwide mortality rates continue to vary, most notably on a regional level, as was demonstrated in the distinguished Atlas de la mortalité par cancer en France metropolitaine [Atlas of cancer death in mainland France (excluding overseas territories)], published on January 28. On a generalized basis, the numbers for Northern and Central France clearly point to hypermortality while death rates in the southern portion of the country were lower than the national average.

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The Pisa University Hospital has become part of the international network of hematopoietic stem cell transplant facilities (meaning they produce various blood components). The hospital was recently accredited by the Italian registry of bone marrow donors, which is part of the international network.

Pisa has become an important center for bone marrow collection for all potential donors in northwestern Italy.
On 20 April 2009, the first donation was carried out for a patient at the Udine University Hospital, and a second donation is being organized for a patient being treated at the Montpellier Hospital (France).

The hospital in Pisa received the prestigious recognition thanks to the positive results they have obtained over the past years in the hematology and oncology- hematology units.

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On May 6, France’s Council of State (the highest administrative court and legal advisor to the executive branch) declared that it was against the practice of “renting out one’s uterus” and in favor of the permanent authorization regulations for embryo research and embryonic stem cell research under certain conditions. French Prime Minister Francois Fillon had asked the court for its opinion, in a reexamination of a 2004 bioethics law.

-Considering the interest of the child and the mother carrying the child and basic underlying principles of the present ban, we hereby recommend to not legalize the practice of using a surrogate mother.

To provide a solution to the current situation, documentation of the paternal relationship and the request of a written authorization for the mother “of intention” to agree upon the actual parental authority are recommended.

-Regarding research on the embryo and embryonic stem cell research, we suggest the creation of a “permanent authorization regulations”, under defined conditions, which specify how the possibility of authorization is a power and therefore the right of authorization need not be provided.

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