NEWS SHORTS FOR WEDNESDAY

NEWS SHORTS FOR WEDNESDAY Economic, Gender Concerns May Lead To Reversal Of China's One-Child Policy The Chinese government's longstanding one-child policy "may be on its way out," as some demographers predict that the country could face a population decline in about 15 years, the AP/Google News reports. The policy limits most residents to one child, although exceptions are allowed for ethnic minorities or rural families whose first child is a girl. The government officially remains committed to the policy, which critics have linked to forced abortions, sterilizations and infanticide. Chinese officials credit the 30-year-old policy with lifting millions of residents out of poverty by preventing 400 million births. The government in 2009 commissioned feasibility studies to explore what would happen if the policy were eliminated or if it remained in place. An official with the National Population and Family Planning Commission said privately that the agency was examining ways to alter the policy but not abolish it. Click here for the entire article. More Stem Cell Lines Are Approved for Federal Funding, NIH Says The National Institutes of Health announced Tuesday that four additional lines of human embryonic stem cells are now eligible for federal funding, including the most widely used line. The NIH's approval of the lines should alleviate mounting concerns among some supporters of stem-cell research that the Obama administration was hindering research. The federal approval affects four lines derived by researchers at the University of Wisconsin, known as H7, H9, H13 and H14. H9 is the most widely used. Click here for the entire article. Many States Preform Gene Tests On Newborns Without Parents' Consent According to Brad Therrell, director of the National Newborn Screening & Genetics Resource Center, all babies born in the United States are required to be screened for a host of genetic diseases. The government has mandated that all newborns be evaluated genetically to see whether or not they might be predisposed to developing a genetic disease and most parents are not informed about the tests. The Browns from Mankato, Minnesota, are one such couple who was informed by their pediatrician that their daughter, Isabel, has a gene that allegedly heightens her risk of developing cystic fibrosis. Curious as to how the doctor obtained information about Isabel's genes, the couple inquired of her about this, only to find out that Isabel had undergone gene tests when she was born without their consent. Click here for the entire article. Doctors Sterilize Uzbek Women By Stealth When her baby died soon after delivery, Gulbahor Zavidova, 28, a poor farmer's wife, longed to be pregnant again. After months of trying she and her husband visited a doctor who told her she could never have another child because she had been sterilized. The procedure had been performed immediately after she gave birth, by doctors who did not ask her consent. On learning she could not bear children, her husband left her. "Not a day passes without me crying," she said. "I was outraged when I found out what they had done. How could they do such a horrible thing without asking me?" According to human rights groups, tens of thousands of young women like Zavidova have been sterilized without their consent in the authoritarian former Soviet state of Uzbekistan. Click here for the entire article. States on the March Against Abortion/ ObamaCare Sometimes a single word can be so filled with meaning it can form the basis of a lengthy and very fruitful discussion. For example in a class I led yesterday, we talked for 55 minutes about what to "recover" could/should/might mean. So it is with a headline blaring on the front page of Monday's USA Today: "States seek new ways to restrict abortions." Of course, "restrict" is the carefully chosen word, one that connotes a [bad] limitation on a [good] thing. In fact a much more accurate description is "protective" legislation. Click here for the entire article.