Debate over ethics of embryo research

(26 Mar 2008) SHOTLIST
26 March 2008
1. London skyline with River Thames and St Paul's Cathedral
2. Houses of Parliament with River Thames in foreground
25 March 2008
3. Wide of Dr Minger in laboratory
4. Various of Minger conducting experiments
5. SOUNDBITE: (English) Dr Stephen Minger, Director, stem cell biology laboratory, King's College London:
"We need to develop new therapies for diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's which affect millions of people. That is in essence all we are trying to do with this research - to develop some very basic tools that we can use in the lab to try to understand the disease better, to try to understand it more at a cellular level, and then to try to use that information to develop new therapies."
6. Minger studies computer screen showing cells from mice
7. Close up of cancerous cell (in pink) attacking normal cells to stimulate stem cell growth
8. SOUNDBITE: (English) Dr Stephen Minger, Director, stem cell biology laboratory, King's College London:
"The most hateful things that I've heard said about us is that they liken us to (Nazi death camp doctor Josef) Mengele, to the Nazis, that we're creating monsters, that our research is grotesque and Frankenstein-like. All I can respond is to say the goal of our research, and all the research in my lab, is to create new treatments and new therapies for really quite catastrophic diseases. That's what this is all about."
Recent
9. Various of crowds of people walking along busy street
26 March 2008
10. Exteriors of Houses of Parliament and Big Ben
25 March 2008
11. SOUNDBITE: (English) Claire Curtis-Thomas, Catholic Labour MP:
"I have two duties. I have a duty to the living, and I have a duty to those who have not yet been born. That's an equal duty. I don't feel that these measures are unique, that we cannot look at other possible technical avenues to alleviate the diseases that exist in this world. But if you say is it right to alleviate the disease of one by taking the life of another, then I'm afraid I cannot agree with that."
12. Wide of multiple sclerosis (MS) sufferer Caroline Haynes in kitchen
13. Haynes makes cup of tea
14. SOUNDBITE: (English) Caroline Haynes, multiple sclerosis sufferer:
"We need guidance, everybody should have guidance. But it's for people like me, the sufferer - and the people who care for me and look after me - we are the ones who should have the voice. We are the ones who should speak out about this, because we know more than anybody how this will affect us in the future. In fact it will give us a future. So let us be the ones to make the decisions. Let us who suffer be the ones that make the decisions."
London, 26 March 2008
15. Wide of London skyline with Thames riverbank in foreground
STORYLINE:
Britain was in the middle of a fierce political debate on Wednesday over whether scientists should have more power to develop new kinds of embryos for medical research.
Among other things, the scientists want to be able to create human embryos from animal eggs to help develop cures for diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and multiple sclerosis.
But church leaders in the UK have condemned the concept as "grotesque".
The issue will come to a head later this year when Parliament votes on the proposed Human Fertilisation and Embryology bill, updating an earlier law from 1990.
A regulatory authority has already granted several British scientists limited licences to create such mixed embryos - including Dr Stephen Minger from King's College London.

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