
blogs


The health risks of obesity – a challenge to Christians
Having just returned from a Christian medical conference where large (especially male) abdomens were…

Russia leads the way in dealing with demographic time-bomb
I warned recently that unless something is done to reverse current demographic trends, economic necessity,…

More fiction and hype about embryonic stem cells as scientists fear withdrawal of funding in patent scrap
Stem cell scientists are kicking up an enormous fuss over a ruling expected very soon from the European…

Why is an offshoot of a euthanasia pressure group launching a ‘how-to-die’ helpline?
I see that staff of Dignity in Dying, formerly the Voluntary Euthanasia Society, are planning to set…

‘Doing God’ is good for your health
Practising Christian faith is good for your health. That’s the verdict of a new report which shows…

Government fails in bid to keep statistics on late abortions secret
The Government has failed in a High Court bid to keep secret information on late abortions which it…

Pro-euthanasia campaigners use of celebrities to boost support may well fuel more suicides
Columnist Melanie Philips this week, in an article titled ‘Why are the Left (and the BBC) so keen to…

Why I told the Daily Mail that the BBC was acting as the ‘cheerleader’ for assisted suicide
Last Friday I was quoted on the front page of the Daily Mail as saying that the BBC was acting as ‘cheerleader’…

Unless we reverse demographic trends the generation that killed its children may well be killed by its children
Low fertility rates and an ageing population will present Europe with a big economic challenge. This…

New genetic screening plans raise serious questions about our attitudes to disability
The Human Genetics Commission (HGC), a government advisory committee, has given the green light to preconception…

The Royal College of Psychiatrists consultation on abortion and mental health – let’s put this into perspective
Some people have expressed concern about an article published in the Daily Telegraph yesterday which…
155 animal-human embryos created in the UK – we think
An apparently straightforward question to government last week (20 July) generated an apparently straightforward reply. Lord Alton asked how many ‘cybrid’ embryos (cytoplasmic animal-human hybrid) have been generated with eggs from non-human species in total. The reply was: ‘The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has advised that the most recent information it holds shows […]
BMJ features CMF after playing a role in its inception over sixty years ago
I see that the British Medical Journal this week has featured the Christian Medical Fellowship in its ‘lobby watch’ column. Apparently CMF is a lobby group. The article mainly focuses on the case of Richard Scott, a Christian doctor who is awaiting a hearing with the General Medical Council for talking about his Christian faith […]
CMF responds to the BMJ
Whilst we are grateful to the BMJ for its attention, the 650 word article about the Christian Medical Fellowship in this week’s ’Lobby Watch’ devotes 412 words to one of our 5,000 members, 127 words to one course we run and only 111 words to CMF itself. Readers will learn much more about us from […]
BMA’s 180 degree turn to embrace what it once called ‘the greatest crime’
On 25 June in a blog titled ‘BMA still not listening to public or science on late abortion’ I reported on the vote at the British Medical Association annual representative meeting against a motion which sought to provide legal protection for babies at the threshold of viability. Delegates objected to a lowering of the upper […]
Call for new regulatory body on human-animal hybrids ‘mere PR gambit’
I blogged yesterday about UK scientists calling on Parliament to create a regulatory body to approve experiments with animals using human tissue or DNA and gave seven reason why we should we wary of it. I see that Wesley Smith (pictured), of Second Hand Smoke, has called the scientists call a ‘hollow gesture’ and a […]
Whither now for the Millennium Development Goals?
With just over three years left to run, and the body still breathing, the post-mortem on the Millennium Development Goals has begun. Agreed at the UN Millennium Summit 2000, the goals (often referred to as the MDGs) were a global commitment to eight areas of development. These were unusual, because there was a deadline set […]
Seven reasons to be wary of British scientists’ call for expert body to advise on animal-human hybrids
British scientists have said today that a new expert body should be formed to regulate experiments mixing animal and human DNA to make sure no medical or ethical boundaries are crossed. In a new report scientists at the Academy of Medical Sciences are claiming that a new advisory group should be set up under the […]
Is seven billion people too many? More nonsense from the population control lobby
SPUC Director John Smeaton has drawn my attention to an article I missed in last weekend’s Observer titled ‘Beckhams a “bad example” for families’. Now you might wonder why the Beckhams are a bad example. Is it for calling their daughter ‘Harper Seven’? Or their expensive tastes? Or their choice of friends? It’s actually none […]
Medical Students Back Abortion Conscience Rights
“…this is a profession to be proud of” says Anne Furedi, Chief Executive of the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, referring, in some desperation it would seem, to abortion provision. However a new survey published this week in the Journal of Medical Ethics shows that large numbers of medical students take a very different view to […]
New Study of Medical Students Reveals a Strong Support for Freedom of Conscience
A study in the Journal of Medical Ethics published yesterday showed that nearly 50% of medical students support the doctor’s right to conscientiously object to treatments and procedures to which she or he has ethical, moral or religious concerns. Surveying some 733 UK medical students at Cardiff University, King’s College London, Leeds University and St […]
General Medical Council and Medical Defence Union endorse ‘tactful’ offers of prayer by GPs
The GP magazine Pulse reports in an exclusive this week on new guidance from the Medical Defence Union saying that GPs can pray with their patients as long as they ensure patients are ‘receptive’ to the offer. The guidance quotes a letter from Jane O’Brien, GMC Assistant Director for Standards and Fitness to Practise, published in the […]
A life precious to God – how to cope when you find your unborn baby has special needs
There is a deeply heart-warming story in the Daily Mail today (July 18 2011) titled, ‘Doctors told us to abort our little girl as she wouldn’t survive birth – but our little fighter has flourished’ When an ultrasound scan showed ‘a massive tumour covering the entire left chamber of her heart that was restricting blood […]