by NexDev | April 7, 2016 | Old age and Dependency
A recent study, published by the American Census Bureau, indicated that by 2020, the population of 65 years old and older, on an international level, will be more numerous than those of children aged less than 5 years. Elderly people will represent 17% of the planet’s inhabitants compared to 8.5% today.
This international ageing process can be explained in 2 manners:
- “Aging on the top” or increasing of life expectancy: from 48 years in 1950, it become 71 years in 2015. Half of today born children may be hundred years old.
- “Low scale ageing” or almost global lowering of the fertility rate on the whole planet: it has gone from 5 children per woman in 1950 to 2.5 children per woman in 2015.
“Individuals live longer but not necessarily in better health; and the ageing population poses several challenges to public health for which we need to be prepared” underlined Dr Richard Hodes, director of the American National Institute on Ageing (NIA).
The preparation of different countries to cope with their ageing population varies considerably from one continent to another. The African population, still predominantly very young, has not yet undergone this transition, compared to the population in Europe, USA and Japan, where the transition took place rather naturally.
It is different in China: It is the country that appears to present the most problems regarding this situation, since its status changed, from that of “a young country” to that of an “older country” with almost no transition period. It should be recalled that a few months ago China abandoned the one child policy that was started in the 70’s, but perhaps it was a little too late… The counterpart of this rapid ageing is that China is now an enormous opportunity for the “silver economy”.
And the situation in France?
French people are very preoccupied by their health, and more particularly by their ageing, according to a HSBC survey carried out at the end of April. The majority of them had not anticipated their old years, neither financially nor materially. Furthermore, a large number of senior citizens must also care for very elderly parents.
One first positive consequence for an ageing population would be the development of home care services, which creates jobs, as well as infrastructures needed for taking care of elderly individuals. The law for adapting society for ageing from December 2015 lists some of the first elements to address this challenge.
A second consequence, which could be positive but also negative, would be the development of the market of robots to assist people who are losing autonomy, faced with the potential lack of qualified individuals. Japan is playing the leading role in this marketplace and France too has performed well in this area. Most assuredly, ethical rules need to be established to deal with this new market which could help address the demographical issues totally unseen until now in the history of humanity.
by NexDev | April 7, 2016 | Uncategorized
On Thursday April 7 at the National Assembly, in the context of the French Parliamentary Office for Evaluation of Scientific and Technological Options (OPECST), a public hearing will be held on the “challenges of new biotechnologies: targeted genome editing with CRISPR-Cas9 ».
This public hearing is held in the context of a report titled “The economic, environmental, health and ethical issues of biotechnology in light of new lines of research”. This work was tabled by Deputy Jean-Yves Le Déaut and Senator Catherine Procaccia, respectively OPECST’s president and vice-president.
This public hearing intends to address the aspects of this technology and its’ possible applications, in medicine as well as agronomy, by exposing the problems related to research and innovation in biotechnology, the economical issues, impacts on the environment and on health, security, ethical aspects and the possible guidelines for this technology and the conditions for a public debate.
The first round table discussion will be dedicated to the technological rupture originating from fundamental research, with several notable scientists and the president of the French National Consultative Ethics Committee for Health and Life Sciences (CCNE). The second round table discussion will focus on genetic therapy and the third on agricultural issues.
FOR ALLIANCE VITA
The CRISPR-Cas9 technique presents promising perspectives but also important bioethical issues. Alliance VITA has been analyzing, informing and alerting the public on these issues for over a year, and believes this is a step in the right direction. It is more urgent than ever that France should focus on this important bio-political matter.
by NexDev | April 1, 2016 | Uncategorized
In a judgment ruled March 22, the Orléans Court of Appeal rejected the request to modify the sex on the birth certificate and to substitute the mention “neutral sex” or “intersex” to that of “male”.
This case concerns a 60-year-old man who had made the request. The court in Tours had consented the request last August 20, but the General Prosecutor appealed, considering that in no way does French law provide for the possibility of registering the words “neutral sex” on a civil status certificate.
The Orléans magistrates considered that admitting the request “would signify recognizing, via a simple rectification of civil status, the existence of another sexual category”.
According to the lawyer[i], her 64-year-old client will certainly continue to the Court of Cassation and eventually to the European Court of Human Rights.
If the principle of inalienability of the condition of individuals leads to elements that a civil status be imposed on the person, the principle of respecting private life also leads to admitting exceptions. Yet in this situation, the applicant has a masculine first name and presents a masculine physical appearance. He is married and has an adopted child with his wife. « His request is thus contradictory to his physical appearance and his social behavior[ii] ».
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[i] http://www.allodocteurs.fr/sexo/troubles-sexuels/la-cour-d-appel-d-orleans-rejette-la-notion-de-sexe-neutre_19023.html
[ii] http://actualitesdudroit.lamy.fr/Accueil/Articles/tabid/88/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/128149/Refus-de-reconnaissance-par-la-cour-dappel-dOrleans-de-la-mention-dun-sexe-neutre-a-letat-civil.aspx
by NexDev | April 1, 2016 | Uncategorized
A study published in the journal Cell shows that the differentiation of embryo cells begins very early in the development. Already at the stage of 4 cells, the second day following conception, differences can be observed according to Cell sources, researchers at the Physiology, Development and Neurosciences Department of Cambridge University.
The experiment was carried out on mouse embryos by using DNA screening and sequencing techniques. The researchers compared the activity of certain genes in each cell and were able to show different behavior for some of them, thus predisposing certain cells to produce embryonic extensions, such as the placenta for example.
For Cambridge professor, Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz, “Life begins when a sperm cell goes into the ovum, but it is interesting to know when the major determining decisions for our future development take place. We now know that from the early embryonic stage of 4 cells – only two days after conception – the embryo is guided in a particular direction and its cells aren’t already identical anymore.”
But what actually activates cellular differentiation is another mystery, as specifies Janet Rossant from the University of Toronto.
Cambridge researchers are trying to solve this mystery. They wish to improve knowledge in the use of stem cells to make body tissues and organs for regenerative medicine. For Zernicka-Goetz, these studies could also be useful for recognizing the most viable embryos during embryo culture phases in the context of in vitro fertilizations.
by NexDev | April 1, 2016 | News
Effective on April 1, 2016, all acts connected to abortion will be fully reimbursed by the French Social Security system, including consultations, ultrasounds, and laboratory analysis. This measure, announced in the decree published on March 8, 2016 in the Official Journal, completes the 100% reimbursement plan for covering abortion costs, started in 2013.
As Alliance VITA has underlined several times, this measure leads to discrimination between the act of abortion and the pursuit of pregnancy, since for example the cost of the first 2 ultrasounds before the end of the fifth month of pregnancy are only 70% reimbursed.
Multiple measures have been taken in these past years by the government, all aimed at the same objective of facilitating access to abortion: removing the notion of distress, abolishing the one-week reflection period, multiplying the number of professionals who can perform abortions (midwives, health centers, etc.), giving health centers performance contracts stipulating the number of abortions to be performed, requiring all healthcare professionals to inform patients about abortive methods, etc.
This policy, which continues and expands that carried out for 40 years, is a failure: the number of abortions in France is not dropping and has attained a high level, between 220,000-230,000 abortions per year. Thus, the rate of abortions in France is twice higher than that of Germany, which has officially just dropped below 100,000 abortions in 2015.
Alliance VITA strongly reminds of the urgency for a real genuine abortion prevention policy. And yet, informing women with unforeseen or difficult pregnancies on social aids to which they can have access would be essential so that abortion should not be a fatality.
