The government yesterday promised to help make Britain a world leader in stem cell research and to crack down on animal rights extremists who break the law in their efforts to intimidate scientists and others connected with the research.
Tony Blair said the government was seeking to make Britain the "science capital of the world". Stem cell research had the potential to transform lives, the prime minister said, as he announced a new five-year industrial policy plan from the Department of Trade and Industry, entitled Creating Wealth From Knowledge.
"We will not stop the research. The potential benefits are huge. I do not think it right to deny people suffering from these illnesses [Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's, strokes and spinal cord injuries] the hope of a cure."
His message was echoed by the trade secretary, Patricia Hewitt. Efforts were under way to ensure the police and intelligence services dealt with the threat posed by animal rights extremists, she said.
"We have been able to create the best ethical regulatory framework in the world [on stem cell research]. That gives us an enormous opportunity." Despite extremists' activities, she said, "we are not going to lose this industry."
Among the measures promised in yesterday's DTI plan were a £400m investment programme in technologies of the future, measures to address the economic damage caused by animal rights extremists, to ease the burden of regulation, to boost skills among young people, to encourage entrepreneurs, and to attract and retain foreign students in those subjects where there is a skill shortage.
The UK would also use its presidencies of the EU and the G8 leading industrialised nations to push for a successful completion of the Doha trade round.
"The global map is being redrawn. China is becoming one of the world's largest economies; India is producing three million highly skilled graduates a year, and central and eastern Euro pean countries with wages a fraction of ours are joining the EU," Ms Hewitt said.
Britain was well placed to take advantage of the changes under way but the DTI would have to change to carry out the new industrial policy, she said.
The command and control approach of the 1970s and the laissez-faire policies of the 1980s were not the way forward, she added.