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News Illness & Disability
Belgium: care for people with disabilities under scrutiny from the UN
The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) is a United Nations mechanism responsible for assessing the human rights situation in each member state every five years, under the auspices of the Human Rights Council. During its last review in 2021, Belgium agreed to implement 251 recommendations, relating in particular to prison conditions...
News Eugenics
Jürgen Habermas: a prophetic voice in the face of contemporary excesses in bioethics
The death of Jürgen Habermas on 14 March at the age of 96 marks the passing of one of Europe’s great philosophical minds, whose work has consistently shed light on the ethical challenges of modernity, particularly in...
Paper Artificial Intelligence
Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs) - Recommendations to the European Commission
Implantable technologies, particularly Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs), raise significant ethical and legal concerns, notably regarding the physical and mental integrity of citizens in Europe and beyond.
News Medically Assisted Reproduction
Towards high-tech embryo selection: Nucleus Embryo or the unlimited choice of the perfect child
The American company Nucleus Genomics now offers parents genetic optimization as an additional tool to increase the chances of their child being healthy. The new Nucleus Embryo technology allows parents who are...
News Illness & Disability
Alzheimer's: predicting the onset of disease to improve treatment
Predicting the onset of Alzheimer's disease in people with a hereditary form could become possible thanks to a genetic model developed by a team of Belgian researchers at the Brain Research Centre of the Flemish Biotechnology Institute (VIB-KU Leuven Center for Brain & Disease Research). This scientific advance could lead...
News Artificial Intelligence
AI in healthcare: helping or hindering decision-making?
Support for diagnosis, reduction of medical errors, and less time spent on administrative tasks are just some of the promises offered by artificial intelligence technologies in the healthcare sector. However, according...
News Illness & Disability
“To be or not to be”: actors with Down's Syndrome give a performance of Hamlet that challenges prejudices
“A luminous show that goes beyond the turmoil of Hamlet to bring to the stage an irrepressible thirst for life”. This is how the commentators on Musiq3 (RTBF) describe a play that made a stopover in Belgium at the...
News Illness & Disability
UN criticises Belgium for ‘high rate’ of abortions linked to prenatal Down’s Syndrome tests
In its latest report, the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities notes with ‘concern’ that the ‘negative perception of persons with disabilities’ in Belgian society contributes to the ‘high level of...
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Bereavement leave in the event of euthanasia: will it be possible to change one’s mind?
Belgium – Proposed liberalisation of abortion laws: 12, 14 or 18 weeks – a scientific question or an ethical choice?
Belgium: care for people with disabilities under scrutiny from the UN
Alberta (Canada): a setback for the expansion of euthanasia?
Surrogacy: between freedom-restricting contracts and eugenic abortions
Euthanasia in cases of advanced dementia: a further extension of Belgian law?
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