BioNews 1000: BioNews in numbers

On 22 March 1999, BioNews launched its first online newsletter digest. It ran with ten news stories and a comment piece by Juliet Tizzard, a former director of the Progress Educational Trust, called 'Why BioNews?'

'Sometimes, too much information may be available, to the public and professionals alike, to make sense of things. The result can either be that we are more confused than ever, or that we simply don't bother trying to find good, accurate information,' wrote Tizzard.

'BioNews is here to help. It is designed to keep those already familiar with assisted reproduction and human genetics up to date on new developments. But BioNews is also for those people looking for information for the first time or those simply stumbling upon it.'

Since that first issue, BioNews has published:

• 6950 news articles

• 1463 comment articles

• 562 reviews

BioNews has kept astride of news and debate on developments in IVF funding policy, the legalisation of mitochondrial donation, uterus transplants, surrogacy law, human genetics, and published many reviews – both glowing and scathing – of plays, podcasts, films and books on these topics.

To mark BioNews 1000, here are ten of our most-read commentary articles from the archive:

• 8 December 2008
  Fathers or donors? The legal position of friends who act as informal sperm donors

• 13 September 2010
  The Irish are different - genetically

• 2 June 2014
  46-year-old becomes oldest IVF mother to use own eggs

• 28 September 2015
  The case against human cloning

• 2 November 2015
  Can donor egg recipients 'pass on DNA' to their children?

• 15 May 2017
  Donor children do not benefit from being told about their conception

• 30 May 2017
  Autism and smoking during pregnancy - a mitochondrial inheritance

• 8 January 2018
  Creating life in the lab

• 29 May 2018
  CRISPR used to block HIV virus replicating in cells

• 20 August 2018
  What does genome editing mean for Down's syndrome?

To celebrate the grand occasion of our 1000th edition, download and print out the 'BioNews 1000' sign, and then take a photo of yourself (and/or your friends, family, colleagues or pets!) holding it.

Please share your pictures on social media with the hashtag #BioNews1000 (also email your pictures to sstarr@progress.org.uk and we will share them too).

Meanwhile, we are asking all of our readers to please donate at least £10, to help BioNews continue as a free service for another 1000 editions. Make your donation here, or alternatively see other ways to donate here.