Gene-edited food: UK plans to embrace technology shouldn’t harm animal welfare, say ethicists

Gene-edited foods may one day be sold in UK shops, but ethicists warn that using the technology in livestock may exacerbate animal welfare issues if, for example, it leads to the creation of disease-resistant animals that can be housed together more densely Environment 1 December 2021 By Adam Vaughan Gene editing could exacerbate animal welfare … Read more

UK Net Zero Strategy: Government refuses to share details of what impact its carbon emissions plans will have

The UK government Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has turned down a freedom of information request that would allow independent scrutiny of its plan for net-zero greenhouse gas emissions Environment 1 December 2021 By Adam Vaughan Sizewell B nuclear power station in Suffolk, UK Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg via Getty Images The UK government … Read more

Children and covid-19 vaccines: Why has the UK been so slow to vaccinate teenagers and children?

Compared with other high-income countries, the UK has been slow to approve and roll out covid-19 vaccines to teenagers, prompting concerns over long covid and the new omicron variant Health 3 December 2021 By Clare Wilson Children at a school in Cardiff, UK, in September Matthew Horwood/Getty Images For the first few months of this … Read more

Covid-19 race disparities: Multigenerational households may partly explain why Bangladeshi and Pakistani communities were disproportionately affected in the UK’s second wave

People in the UK of Bangladeshi or Pakistani heritage are more likely to live in households that include schoolchildren and people aged 70 or older – a factor that may explain why people from these backgrounds were more likely to die from covid-19 during the country’s second wave Health 3 December 2021 By Jason Arunn … Read more