Science funding.

Prof. I D Aitken, director of the Moredun Research Institute, retires after 12 years of service. In his retiring lecture he strongly criticised the government for cutting research into animal health. The cuts have resulted in several projects remaining unfinished. He goes on to argue that all major parties need to give high priority to science. Research into cloning at Roslin Institute in Edinburgh will be halved next month and withdrawn next year. Prof. Steven Clark, however is a scientist who believes that there should be some fundamental re-thinking about research projects. Are we entitled to use animals in the way we do for our research? The Dolly Project has been severely criticised by animal welfare groups. Prof. Ray Baker is the CE of the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research council, which includes the Roslin Institute. He is fairly certain that animal issues have been well taken care of. Prof. Baker talks of the financial loss to Britain due to chronic diseases and believes that scrapie could be eliminated from cloned sheep.