Fears over new Galápagos status

'horizon scanning' for biotechnology advances and provides information, " wrote Zoe Williams in The Guardian. Donna Dickenson, emeritus professor of medical ethics at the University of London, said that a fundamental part of the HFEA's work is consultative, taking the cultural temperature on issues like animal–human hybrid embryos. " We don't have a statutory national ethic commission. Almost every other European country does, " she says. " Putting a value on the subtle negotiations between science, government, public opinion and ethics is not easy, " writes Williams. " But we can say for certain they are not without value. " Another major body being closed down is the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution (RCEP). Set up in 1970, it has reported on a wide range of issues, from nuclear power and the environment, the release of genetically modified organisms, and freshwater quality, to its latest study on the environmental impact of demographic change. It is led by the ecologist Sir John Lawton with members of considerable expertise. But Caroline Spelman, the government's environment secretary, announced last month the closure of several advisory bodies, including the RCEP. " Times have changed since many of these bodies were set up and much of what they do is now everyday government business, " she said. Tourism to the Galápagos Islands, located some 1,000 km off the coast of Ecuador, started very slowly. In 1535 the Bishop of Panama landed there, although he intended to travel to Peru and lost his way. Three hundred years later Charles Darwin arrived at the archipelago and stayed for five weeks, studying the area's unusual wildlife, which became a crucial influence on his theories of evolution. Due to the absence of mammalian predators, the fauna on the islands is dominated by reptiles, including giant tortoises and a variety of iguanas, and a multitude of bird species, including the finches that Darwin famously studied. Ecuador, which claimed the islands in 1832, sent a few settlers and prisoners there. In 1959, after the last penal colony closed, most of the surface area of the islands became a national park. The Charles Darwin Research Station began operating in 1964, and, by the end of the 60s, visitors began to arrive in their thousands. With the tourist influx swelling to around 60,000 annually by the end of the century, more settlers arrived hoping to make a living in the tourism Fears over …