Colin Blakemore on the genome.

Colin Blakemore has been persecuted for 14 years by animal rights activists. This programme is an account of the violence and threats he, his family and colleagues have suffered - bombs, razor-blades in letters, kidnapping threats, violent crowds breaking every window of his house - because he does medical research on animals. Specifically, in 1987, he was working on kittens, stitching their eyes shut and later testing their brains to discover how 'not seeing' affected the cortex. He is now researching Huntingdon's disease. Having considered whether the research is worthwhile, he has concluded that it is vital, so he will continue despite the constant risk. The campaign against him has been in the media, by leaflet, letters, against companies such as Huntingdon Life Sciences, shareholders and researchers. Physically, researchers fear for their lives, fear they could be attacked any time. Blakemore has fought back in the media, using the Boyd Group as a forum. He feels the animal rightists have won public approval and thus severely restricted areas of research. The Government has recently given laboratories some support. Much future genetic work will involve animals so the need for animal experiments will increase.