How Far Should We Go With Organ Donation?

With the growth of an ageing population, improved technology and an ever increasing demand for organ donation, do we need to rethink current practices?


On 19 April 2010, the Nuffield Council on Bioethics opened a consultation on the donation and use of human body parts in medicine and research. The Council is asking the public just how far it would be prepared to go in promoting the donation of eggs, sperm, organs and other human body parts for use and research in medical science


Reflecting Public Concerns and Stimulating Debate

The Nuffield Council on Bioethics investigates ethical issues raised by new developments in biology and medicine. Established by the Nuffield Foundation in 1991, the Council is an independent body funded jointly by the Foundation, the Medical Research Council and the Wellcome Trust. The Council has established an international reputation for addressing public concerns, and providing independent advice to assist policy makers and stimulate debate in bioethics.

Professor Dame Marilyn Strathern, Professor of Social Anthropology at Cambridge University, is the Chair of the inquiry, and is interested in the ethics of providing increased incentives like cash and meeting funeral costs, and why different rules exist for different types of donation. She points out that:

“Women can already get free IVF treatment from private clinics to encourage them to donate eggs, and healthy volunteers may be paid significant sums of money to ‘donate’ their bodies to test new medicines for the first time in humans.”

Is the present System fair or could it be better balanced to include other kinds of donation and testing? Read more

Winning the Battle Against Obesity

Scientists are adding seaweed to bread and other common food stuffs to find ways to help people lose weight while they eat.

A team of UK scientists from Newcastle University are engaged in research that shows that dietary fibre contained in alginates from commercially used sea kelp, can help reduce the amount of fat absorbed by the body by up to 75 per cent.


Natural Fibre and Weight Loss

The research team, led by Dr. Iain Brownlee and Professor Jeff Pearson, presented their findings on 22 March, 2010 at the American Chemical Society Spring meeting in San Francisco. The team have discovered that Alginate, a natural fibre contained in sea kelp, prevents the body from absorbing fat better than any other currently available over-the-counter treatments.

Using an artificial gut, they tested the effectiveness of more than 60 different natural fibres by measuring the amount of fat that was digested and absorbed with each treatment. "The aim of this study was to put these products to the test and our initial findings are that alginates significantly reduce fat digestion," explained Dr Brownlee at an interview during the event.

Alginate lines the walls of the digestive system and prevents dietary fat passing through. The types of seaweed identified as carrying alginate are Lessonia and Laminaria. They are native to the Far East, South America and parts of Norway and Scotland, although they could be harvested anywhere. Read more