close ties between universities and business could stifle public debate?

A new study by the thinktank Demos warns that close ties between universities and business could stifle public debate and distort research. "We need to ask who is setting the agenda for science," said James Wilsdon, one of the report's authors.

Lord Winston: "I view the current wave of optimism about embryonic stem cells with growing suspicion. Embryonic stem cells replicate very slowly in culture, and it may well be that in the culture systems where you want to grow them the selective pressure is in favour of the faster growing cells, the ones of course which are most likely to be genetically abnormal."

He singles out embryo stem cells as a case study in scientific arrogance and the dangers of "spinning" a good story.