News - Announcements

May 2009

Chemo Teen and Mom on the Run-How It Could Have Been Prevented (22.5.2009)
By now, almost everyone in America has probably heard the story of Daniel Hauser and his fight to refuse chemotherapy for his Hodgkin's lymphoma. The most recent wrinkle is that when it appeared that Daniel would be forced to get chemo, he and his mother skipped town, apparently now on their way to Mexico, to avoid enforcement of the court-ordered treatment.

EGYPT: Move to End Organ Trafficking (18.5.2009)
Egypt's parliament is set to review a long-overdue draft law to regulate organ transplant operations. If passed, the legislation could make more human organs available for transplant, and curtail the country's booming organ trade.

UK Government announces plans for DNA database (7.5.2009)
At the end of 2008, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled that the permanent retention of cellular material and DNA profiles from innocent individuals in the National DNA database is in violation of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (see previous news). The ECHR described the practice of keeping permanent records of suspects in the DNA database for England and Wales as “blanket and indiscriminate”, as they do not distinguish between convicted criminals and innocent people. This contrasts with the database for Scotland, which was deemed “fair and proportionate”, where profiles are destroyed if a person is neither charged nor convicted, and are only retained for up to five years in the case of adults charged with violent or sexual offences.