In today's climate where a child's right to know the details of the circumstances of its birth is coming closer to a common ideal, this story from the UK shows how far the concept can go.

Ministers and peers in both Commons and Lords are recommending that children born from donate sperm or eggs should "have that fact recorded on their birth certificates'" in an effort to protect the state from implied complicity in lies if the children are not told the truth.

It's the head of science and ethics at the British Medical Association that wrote this op/ed piece, and she poses some interesting questions.

Worth a read.

Birth mother reunion has hit mainstream, accessible America media with a central role in the comic strip "Funky Winkerbean". Poignant and touching, the theme runs deeper than this one panel, as the mother character is dying of cancer.

Comic strips are not what they used to be, and I'm thinking that's a good thing.

The US State Department has announced that the US Embassy in Guatemala will immediately begin requiring additional DNA testing to verify the identities of children in international adoptions.

See Lisa's post on the Guatemalan blog for details.

In Australia, a country with an abysmal adoption history, a man who had been stolen from his family and adopted out as part of a government assimilation policy has been awarded compensation in a landmark case.

One of thousands of Aboriginal children of Australia's 'stolen generation', Bruce Trevorrow is the first of thousands to win his case when a Supreme Court Justice found he had been "falsely imprisoned and treated unlawfully, when he was taken from his family in 1958".

He has been awarded almost US $500,000, but says it was not possible to put a dollar value on the pain he had endured.

Also down under, this story about parents being fined for smoking in their cars with children on board.

New laws in South Australia make it illegal for anyone to smoke in a car if there is a child under the age of sixteen present.

And because I'm close to going on vacation, which means I have a whole weight-loss / exercise program in mind to commence upon return, here's a report on a study that says fat might come from a virus.

Researchers say some contagious pathogens make fat cells grow larger and multiply faster -- and some packing on the pounds could be oblivious victims of "infectobesity."

In a complicated biological dance, the theory goes that an adenovirus called AD-36 ... and possibly 10 other known pathogens ... could be causing stem cells to turn to fat cells, then begin ordering those fat cells to produce loads of lipids -- fat -- resulting in more and bigger fat cells ... and a fatter person.

The evidence is compelling, and there is a test for the virus. Bad news is that there's no cure or treatment, so even if you're fat because of the virus ... and it will cause people to get fat with little reason ... you'll still have to watch intake and exercise.

Not until my holiday is over, though.