Vanessa Spedding is the Shorts editor

Ethics of egg donation

The HFEA (Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority) is running a consultation that will inform the development of new guidance on whether women should be able to donate their eggs for use in stem cell research. The consultation will run until November with a decision expected in February 2007. Guidance and any regulatory measures will follow in spring 2007.

Legal query over GM proposals 

At the close of Defra’s consultation on proposals for managing the coexistence of GM, conventional and organic crops, two specialists in European law concluded that Defra’s proposals are ‘legally and fundamentally flawed’. The legal opinion of lawyers Paul Lasok QC and Rebecca Haynes, commissioned by Friends of the Earth, The Soil Association and GM Freeze, are available here.

Limits to biofuels?

The Royal Society is conducting a study into the potential of the next generation of biofuels to provide economic, low-carbon fuel for transport. The study will explore how science could address issues such as the potential competition between food crops and energy crops, for example by establishing whether different parts of food crops could be converted into biofuel. A report on findings is planned for autumn 2007.

Science body for Wales?

The Campaign for Science and Engineering (CaSE) has welcomed the outcomes of the Welsh Assembly’s review of science policy, urging the Welsh government to implement the key recommendations quickly. These include that Wales should have a full-time Chief Scientist and a Science Advisory Council, to include business leaders from inside and outside Wales.

Defra’s new wiki

Defra (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) is turning to the public to help it draft an ‘environment contract’ for the UK – by means of a website that can be edited by users (a wiki). Described as ‘an experiment in collaborative working’, Defra hopes the wiki will enable everyone to take part in solving environmental problems like climate change and loss of biodiversity. Click here to access the Defra Wiki.

Investors sought for new energy institute 

The Department of Trade and Industry is inviting expressions of interest in its proposals for a new Energy Technologies Institute. Government will commit £500m to the Institute over the next decade and is looking for matched commitment from companies. The focus will be on research into secure, reliable and affordable low carbon energy technologies.

20 per cent by 2020

The European Commission has unveiled its Action Plan on Energy Efficiency, which aims to bring about a 20 per cent cut in European energy consumption by 2020 by means of 75 new measures. These are designed to make appliances, buildings, transport and energy generation more efficient, and include stringent energy efficiency standards and specific financing mechanisms.

Data laws by-passed in crime proposals

FIPR (The Foundation for Information Policy Research) has criticised measures proposed in the Home Office consultation, New Powers Against Organised and Financial Crime, to deal with internet fraud. FIPR claims that the measures risk flouting data protection and human rights laws, and that proposals overlook the need for consent before data sharing. ‘There is a serious risk that large sections of the public sector will come to rely on systems that will eventually be found to be illegal under European law,’ says FIPR.