File on 4 Investigates Folgen

New NHS research has revealed the shocking toll of preventable deaths caused by just one medical condition. Diabetes - in which the body fails to control blood sugar levels safely - is causing 24,000 needless deaths a year in England alone. It's not just the old and middle-aged who are at risk. Young women with diabetes are 6 to 9 times more likely to die than their age group overall. And many more young people who don't die will develop life threatening diseases later due to failure to manage their blood sugar. Badly controlled diabetes can lead to kidney disease, heart conditions, or blindness. It's also the cause of 5,000 amputations a year, mainly of legs or feet. With around 3 million diagnosed sufferers known to the health service, diabetes is said to be costing the NHS £9 billion a year, about a tenth of the total health budget. Julian O'Halloran reveals why, despite Government pledges, it's so difficult to get to grips with the disease. And, with the incidence of diabetes rocketing, he asks whether the NHS can cope.Producer - Gail Champion.

With the EU poised to ban oil imports from Iran, Allan Urry assesses the impact of international sanctions on Britain and Europe. Designed to curb Iran's nuclear programme, the oil embargo could further push up the cost of fuel.Iranian companies are involved in a number of joint ventures that bring energy into European homes and factories: File on 4 examines what will happen to these vital projects as the new round of trade restrictions begins to bite. And British companies that trade legitimately with Iran are already finding it harder to do business. They warn that it could lead to job losses. How will the sanctions affect Europe at a time when many economies are in recession or are just stagnating? And how effective are the new restrictions likely to be given Iran's experience of finding ways around international controls on what it can buy and sell. Producer: David Lewis.

Dutch and American scientists have succeeded in mutating a deadly bird-flu virus to make it easily transmissible to humans. If it got out, it could start a fatal epidemic. They keep it securely locked away in their laboratories, but want to publish the biological recipe for making it. In an unprecedented move, the U.S. government is pressing them to keep the details of their experiments secret for fear that bio-terrorists could use the organism to kill hundreds of millions of people. In the UK there are more than 300 laboratories working on the second highest danger level organisms such as tuberculosis. In 10 of them, they work at the highest risk level on viruses like ebola and the most deadly strains of flu. Every year there are hundreds of biological related incidents reported to the Health and Safety Executive but while the headline numbers are published the details are shrouded in secrecy and rarely come to light. Meanwhile, a rapidly developing branch of science known as 'synthetic biology' offers dramatic possibilities for developing new vaccines and targeting many lethal diseases. But does it also increase the risk that newly-created organisms could be used for harmful purposes as the necessary research techniques spread out from authorised laboratories to a network of DIY enthusiasts? There is growing concern that that biological techniques are advancing so quickly that they outstrip the mechanisms to control them. The FBI has tasked a unit to monitor the DIY enthusiasts but admits it only has limited resources to do so. Could genetic mutation of pathogens become as commonplace as home-brewing? And how well protected is the UK against biological threats? Reporter : Gerry Northam Producer : Nicola Dowling Editor : David Ross.