Pressure groups and their influence on scientific advances – P5

Pressure groups	How they influence scientific achievements.
P.E.T.A (people for the ethical treatment of animals.	Are an UK based charity that is dedicated to establishing and protecting animal rights. PETA use public education , research events, protests and celebrity involvement to educate the public on animal cruelty. They believe that animals have the same right as humans and there are different ways to test drugs or make up, where no harm would come to them. (2)
Greenpeace	Greenpeace are a non profit organization that hat like to address environmental issues around the globe. They are mainly funded my members and foundation grants (1) They get their thoughts out through blogs, websites and flyers. They influence a lot of scientific advances in a good way and a bad way, by showing the world what is really happening behind the scenes. E.g. They showed what was really going on with whaling. (3)
Privacy international (pI)	This organization was set up to monitor government and corporations that hold personal information e.g. video surveillance , medical data, police information ID cards etc. (1) They raise awareness of the new technologies that are becoming available and how they cause a threat to our privacy.(4)
Council for Responsible Genetics (CRG)	CGR is a non profit non government organisation that’s main focus is biotechnology. There main focuses are to inform and give access to the public about technological innovation and show that it could lead to discrimination. In its early days it was very concerned about the ethical implications of genetic technologies and using them as biological weapons. This lead to the biological weapons anti-terrorism act in 1989. They also laid down the basis for the genetic information non-discrimination act of 2008
Friends of the earth	Being one the worlds biggest environmental charity they have changed a few thing around the world. They were the first pressure group to win a climate change law that states ‘The law commits the Government to deep cuts in the UK’s emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050.’(5)

 

References

1. Page 138, Applied Science level 3, Annets F, Foale S, Hartley J, Hocking S, Hudson L, Kelly T, Llewwllyn R, Musa I, Sorensen J, 2010, England, Edinburgh Gate, Harlow, Essex, CM20 2JE, 04-01-2015
2. http://www.peta.org.uk/about/, website, 04-01-2015
3. http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/campaigns/oceans/fit-for-the-future/whaling/, website, 04-01-2015
4. http://www.privacyinternational.org/node/5, website, 04-01-2015
5. http://www.foe.co.uk/news/climate_law_world_first_16014, website, 04-01-2015