Ataxia-telangiectasia is a rare genetic degenerative disease of childhood, which affects multiple systems of the body. In a letter dated 21/1/2019 this charity stated: “From a scientific perspective, it is believed that human embryonic stem cell research could offer hope for thousands of people living with complex genetic conditions, but … this type of research is highly contentious. As such, we have not funded any research in this particular area to date and have no plans to do so in the foreseeable future.”

In a letter dated 21 January 2019, the chief executive of this charity wrote: “Thank you for your letter regarding research using human embryos. I can confirm that we do not fund this type of research and will not have activity in this area in the future”.

In a letter dated 22/11/2018 this charity stated that it funds projects which “focus on using stem cells made from adult skin cells.” However, they also fund some researchers who “may still study stem cells derived from human embryos.”

In a letter dated 21/6/2019 this charity stated: “… we don’t have a policy on reproductive health services and don’t specialise in this at this centre.” The letter also stated: “… some of our work may have some overlap with this…”

In a letter dated 19/11/2018, this charity wrote: “…the research undertaken at Anthony Nolan does not use, or perform, any experimental work on human embryos. We are fortunate to be able to work with stem cells from voluntary unrelated donors and from cord blood stem cells collected from the placenta following birth. Of course, this research is performed only following rigorous review and approval both internally and externally, and with the appropriately signed consent of the donor. Anthony Nolan does not provide funds or grants to other organisations for its research.”

This organisation states on its website: “Asthma UK understands and appreciates that people do have concerns about medical research involving human embryos, and charities providing funding support for it. Asthma UK does not currently fund any projects that require human or hybrid human embryos but as a member of the Association of Medical Research Charities, backs their support of the use of human embryos and the creation of hybrid human embryos when the research has the potential to make significant medical advances.”
https://www.asthma.org.uk/research/strategy/ethics/

Ataxia-telangiectasia is a rare, genetic degenerative disease of childhood, which affects multiple systems of the body. In a letter dated 15/1/2019 this charity wrote: “The A-T Society, as a tiny research funder, does not have a formal policy on human embryo experimentation, as it is something that we have never funded nor been asked to fund, and I find it very difficult to conceive that we would ever be asked to do so.
“In the extremely unlikely event that someone was to approach us with a proposal, we would look long and hard at the scientific and ethical issues and seek guidance from the Association of Medical Research Charities, of which we are a member, and other appropriate organisations.” [#AMRC#]

BBC Children in Need is an umbrella organisation, whose function is to give grants to a large number of smaller charities across the country. According to the BBC website, in 2018 Children in Need supported over 2,700 projects in communities across the UK. The list of projects is broken down by region.
Many local charities will not be involved in anti-life practices, but some may be doing so. https://www.spuc.org.uk/News/Articles/ID/384216

In a letter dated 25 January 2019 this charity stated: “We don’t fund any research that involves human embryo experimentation. All of the research we support and fund is based on the neonatal unit, and beyond, improving the lives of babies born premature or sick.” [#AMRC#]

This charity stated in a letter dated 22/11/2018 that it “has not funded research involving experiments on human embryos”. Bloodwise keeps its research “under regular review including developing new policies when a need arises”. The Head of Research Funding stated: “We work with several research funding organisations and to my knowledge, they do not fund this type of research”. [#AMRC#]

In a letter dated 28/11/2018 this charity stated: “We do not have a written policy regarding human embryo experimentation as we have never funded any research that involves human embryos and are very unlikely to, as research of this nature is tightly governed and not directly relevant to our field.” [#AMRC#]

In a letter dated 22/1/2019, this charity stated: “We do not participate in research using human embryos, nor do we support any organisations that conduct research in this area.
“The research that we fund is in the area of obstetrics, not fetal medicine. The research that is undertaken does not require any tissue samples from women who consent to participate in our studies before birth and, even after birth, only placenta and myometrial tissue samples are collected for analysis.” [#AMRC#]

In a letter dated 5/12/2018, this charity stated: “human embryos are not commonly used in research for the benefit of people with bowel cancer. Were we to receive requests for funding in this area, this would have to be considered carefully by our Trustees and Medical Advisors.” [#AMRC#]

Bowel Disease Research Foundation and Bowel and Cancer Research have merged to form Bowel Research UK.
In a letter dated 31/1/19, Bowel Disease Research Foundation stated: “with regards to our policy on human embryo experimentation, we do not have our own written policy on this but subscribe to that of the Association of Medical Research Charities, of which we are a member…I have to say, if the law was to change at some point in the future it is difficult to imagine that we would ever receive applications for something like this. Most of our grants focus on the practical aspects of care and treatment, generally in a surgical setting, and as such this is not a subject we have ever previously considered nor expect to consider.”
In an undated letter, Bowel and Cancer Research stated: “We have never had cause to fund any research that uses human embryos as the field is so tightly regulated and the type of research that we fund uses other techniques, primarily human tissue and adult cell lines. If any of the research we fund uses stem cells, they are derived from adult tissue and not from embryos…In terms of funding organisations that carry out such research, in all honesty it would be hard to say…” [#AMRC#].

In a letter dated 23/1/2019 this charity stated: “We do not have a published policy on the use of human embryos, because the type of research we are engaged in makes it unlikely that this will be an issue for us. No researcher has ever applied to us for funding for research involving human embryos. If we were approached, however, the policy would be to ask the researchers to consider adult stem cells and resubmit the application.
“…we have supported research using human stem cells … these were not taken from embryos, but from adult volunteers. They were donated adult – probably skin – cells that the researchers reprogrammed to function as neurons.”
“We endeavour to be ethical in all the research we support and open with all supporters and potential supporters. In setting standards, we seek to achieve at least those of the Association of Medical Research Charities of which we are members.” [#AMRC#]

In a letter dated 9/1/2019, this charity stated: “We don’t have a specific policy on human embryo experimentation. However, we have no record of ever having funded any research using human embryos, and we think that the likelihood of funding any such research in the future is slim.
“To date we have not received any applications for research involving human embryos; as and when we do, this will likely set a precedent for how we deal with such applications in the future.”
“It’s worth pointing out that, whilst some areas of neurological research do use stem cells, these stem cells are often now derived from skin cells rather than from embryos.” [#AMRC#]

In a letter dated 21/12/2018, the Chief Scientific Officer of this charity stated: “I can confirm that we do not support any such research within our current portfolio …I find it difficult to identify any aspect of the work that we support where human embryo experimentation would add benefits over alternative approaches.” [#AMRC#]

In a letter dated 25/01/2019, this charity stated: “We can reassure you that we do not fund any research on human embryos”. [#AMRC#]

In a letter dated 25/10/2018 stated that it does not “currently fund any projects that require the use of human embryos or human embryonic stem cells”.
“Overall, having been funding ground-breaking research into breast cancer for over 25 years … we haven’t received any research application proposing the use of human embryos or human embryonic stem cells, and we don’t expect this to change.” [#AMRC#]

In a letter dated 4/12/2018, the organisation stated: “We only fund research into blindness prevention, and I can confirm that we do not fund any research using human embryos and we do not support organisations who use human embryos.” [#AMRC#]

In a letter dated 29/11/2018 this charity stated: “To date we have not funded research that involves the use of embryos and we do not receive research funding application that involve their use. In addition, we are not currently planning to fund work in this area. At present we don’t have a specific policy on the use of human embryos in research.” [#AMRC#]

The British Sjögren’s Syndrome Association (BSSA) was founded to raise awareness of the disease and support research into its cause and treatment. In a letter dated 5/2/19, this charity stated on embryo experimentation: “This has not come up at the BSSA to date but if it were to do so, we would abide by the position outlined in the AMRC statement.” [#AMRC#]

In a letter dated 31/5/19, this charity stated: “I am writing to confirm that we do not fund any research that involves using human embryos. We do not support any organisations other than the universities and hospitals which are awarded skin disease research grants.” [#AMRC#]

In a letter dated 10/6/19, this charity stated: “Our main focus and expenditure is on providing day to day assistance to those with Osteogenesis Imperfecta. At present, we have only a limited budget for medical research. None of the research grants we have made involve human embryo experimentation.” [#AMRC#]

In a letter dated 17/12/2018, this charity stated: “Currently CHSS do not have a specific human embryo experimentation policy, and we do not specifically exclude human embryo experimentation from the research we fund; so in theory, a project involving human embryo experimentation could be funded by CHSS through its research grants. However, after looking at the last 20 years of projects we cannot find that we have funded any.
“… CHSS funds research projects at a number of universities in Scotland. We understand that some of these universities do, on projects funded by other organisations, carry out research involving human embryo experimentation.” [#AMRC#]

In a letter dated 14/02/2019, this charity states: “CHECT has never funded any research that involves human embryo experimentation and is not currently funding any research in this area. We do not fund other organisations which use human embryos in research. As a result, we do not have a policy on the use of human embryos in research, but it is something our Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) will be looking at later this year.”
The latest research strategy from the SAC (https://chect.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/2019-research-strategy.pdf) does not mention embryo research. [#AMRC#].

The Children with Cancer UK website states: “We have never funded any research using human embryos. We have funded some work involving human embryonic stem cells. References to the use of ‘stem cells’ in our research generally refer to blood stem cells rather than embryonic stem cells.” https://www.childrenwithcancer.org.uk/research/research-faq/ [#AMRC#].

In a letter dated 25/2/2019 this charity stated: “We do not fund any research that uses human embryos, nor do we support any organisations that do this type of research. In almost every case CDRF-funded research uses adult volunteers from TwinsUK: a large group of identical and non-identical twins. Our method of collecting information is either by questionnaire, buccal swabs, blood tests, urine samples and faecal swabs for DNA analysis of either the subject or the subject’s gut microbiome. In some smaller studies, such as genetic causes of skin melanoma, we have used volunteers who already have the disease.” [#AMRC#]

In a letter dated 10/6/19, this charity stated: “I can advise that I am unaware of any connection between the Circulation Foundation and human embryo experimentation, and therefore unable to provide a policy.”

In a letter dated 27/11/2018 this organisation stated: “We have not funded any research in the past involving the use of human embryos and currently cannot foresee any reason why we would in the future. The nature of coeliac disease is such that invariably research involves the study of patients and human populations.” [#AMRC#]

Comic Relief is a fund-raising company which transfers all its profits to the registered charity called Charity Projects. Comic Relief organises Red Nose Day in “odd” years (2015, 2017, 2019 etc.) and Sport Relief in “even” years (2014, 2016, 2018 etc.). While the two fundraising events may seem different, they are for all practical intents and purposes the same as they both exist to raise money for Comic Relief.
The money raised in Comic Relief’s fundraising campaigns is paid out in grants to thousands of exterior charities. While not all of these charities will engage in activities which would concern the pro-life community, other charities will be associated with anti-life practices.
Red Nose Day is the BBC’s biannual fundraising extravaganza for Comic Relief. The BBC also hosts Children in Need. Comic Relief gives grants to national and international charities, whereas Children in Need deals with smaller national charities.

In a letter dated 14/2/19, this charity stated: “We are not aware of any IBD-related research that involves human embryo experimentation.”
[#AMRC#].

In a letter dated 29/5/19, this charity states: “Primarily we are currently funding a portfolio of clinical trials of drugs with the potential to slow down stop or even reverse the progression of Parkinson’s…We do also support work with stem cells as we view this as a Parkinson’s reversal strategy. Current research with stem cells is focusing on taking skin cells that have been donated by people turning them into stem cells called pluripotent stem cells which are being transplanted into people living with Parkinson’s in Japan.”
The CPT does seem to have funded research using human embryonic stem cells in the past – https://www.cureparkinsons.org.uk/News/stem-cell-study-paves-the-way-for-pd-patient-therapies.
[#AMRC#].

This charity funds research and supports people living with Epidermolysis Bullosa (EB), a group of genetic skin conditions which cause the skin to blister and tear at the slightest touch.
In a letter dated 6/12/2018, DEBRA stated: “Currently we do not fund any research involving embryos.” [#AMRC#]

In a letter dated 16/12/2018, this charity stated it “would not want to see a world without people with Down’s syndrome”.
The letter lists the ways in which it is working with agencies involved in “antenatal screening pathways across England and Wales”. One point this charity highlights is that:
“Professionals need to develop their skills in providing non-directive counselling – to enable women to make personalised, informed decisions about what is right for them.”
The letter also stated that the Down’s Syndrome Association is “not active in the areas of i) human embryo research ii) assisted dying or iii) the provision of contraceptive services to women or girls.
A statement on this charity’s website reads:
“At the Down’s Syndrome Association, we do not believe Down’s syndrome in itself should be a reason for termination, however, we realise that families must make their own choice.”
https://www.downs-syndrome.org.uk/news/statement-in-response-to-richard-dawkins-comments-on-twitter/?highlight=termination

Duchenne UK funds research to accelerate treatments and find a cure for Duchenne muscular dystrophy.
In a letter dated 11/2/19, this charity stated: “Duchenne UK do not support any research using human embryos, so your money would not go towards this research. Additionally, to our knowledge none of the organisations we work with do this research either.”
[#AMRC#]