This week at the Progress Educational Trust (20 April 2021)
The Progress Educational Trust (PET) has been busy in recent weeks running public events and making appearances in the media. Last week saw PET Director Sarah Norcross comment on research that involves the creation of chimeric embryos, containing material from both monkeys and humans.
Sarah was interviewed about the issue on 5 News, and you can watch the interview below. (If you cannot see the film below, click here to view it.)
Sarah has also been quoted on the topic of chimeric embryos in the local, national and international media, including the following articles.
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Human cells grown in monkey embryos spark ethical debate (BBC News)
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First part-human, part-monkey embryo created by scientists amid ethics concerns (Daily Mirror)
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Ethics row after human-monkey embryo created in major scientific breakthrough (Daily Telegraph)
Elsewhere, Sarah has been quoted in two recent Daily Mail articles on the subject of egg freezing.
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Sarah said: 'For some women, egg-freezing will be a positive reproductive choice giving them a feeling of control at a time of great uncertainty, but it must be made clear by the clinic that egg-freezing is not a guarantee of a baby, and women should go armed with questions about the success rates and the overall cost.'
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Sarah said: 'For some women who didn't want to try to be mothers on their own, and haven't met anyone, it can be a very sad decision to have to make. For others, it can be a really positive choice if, for example, they don't need their eggs as they've subsequently met someone and had children naturally.'
PET continues to campaign for an extension to the outdated and unscientific 10-year legal limit on the length of time for which women's eggs can be stored in the UK (if these eggs are frozen for non-medical or 'social' reasons).
If you have not yet done so, please spare a few moments to sign and share PET's #ExtendTheLimit petition at www.change.org/extendthelimit