The marathon, even superhuman, efforts it takes to bring you this column - revealed

The man blew the whistle on BSE has written a truly frightening book.

Bound in two volumes between plain black covers is Dr Harry Baker's life's work. It looks unspectacular - but the research it contains has just won him the rare honour of a DSc (Doctor of Science) degree from the Open University - the first OU graduate ever to receive this distinction.

THE GOVERNMENT faces an ethical dilemma after deciding to fund anonymous tests of tonsils and appendixes removed from thousands of patients, to see whether they are incubating the deadly "new variant" Creutzfeldt- Jakob Disease (v-CJD).

THE GOVERNMENT is funding development of a test for CJD which could detect the presence of just a few hundred infectious molecules in a drop of blood.

CLAIMS THAT a strain of experimental genetically-modified (GM) potatoes might harm humans were shot down yesterday, as scientists pointed out that the potatoes would fail existing regulatory tests for modified foods.

Health Check

PPL ties up gene technology

A LARGE-SCALE trial of an Aids vaccine has been denounced by leading British scientists as a waste of time and money because few, if any, of the 5,000 volunteers will benefit.

THIS WEEK there's been a lot of talk about genetic engineering, especially of plants. Yet it seems to be a technology people take for granted. Few people seem to ask: how exactly do you get a new gene into a plant?

STANLEY Prusiner has been on the wrong side of scientific orthodoxy for almost his entire career, which mixes medicine and science.

Sir: It is untrue that "the entire food industry is making use of soya protein which may be derived from genetically modified soya beans", as claimed by Birdseye ("No warnings of modified soya in foods" 28 May). Many supermarket chains across Europe have sourced natural soya as, for example, has Iceland in this country. They have refused to bow to the bullying of their American suppliers.

COMPANIES that claim not to be using genetically-modified m (GM) soya in their food may be unaware that the products they are selling contain it.

UNLESS you are seriously rich, the following may be a crushing blow: Dolly the sheep's successors could have a significantly higher annual income than you - pounds 2m each, to be exact.