NEW EC
REGULATIONS HAMPER BIOTECH COMPANIES
The European Commission's (EC) implementation of the Technology
Transfer Block Exemption Regulations (TTBER) is a “poor-fit
for biotech companies which are dependent on licensing for
income and to access technologies.” So says, Sabine
Louet in the journal Nature Biotechnology.
Louet in an article entitled “New EU antitrust law burdens
licensing” said the regulations define rules by which
companies can be exempted from proving that a licensing agreement
does not hinder competition or are in line with antitrust
laws. If legally challenged by not meeting the exemption
criteria,
companies need to convince the EC through a costly and time-consuming
proposition.
EuropaBio, the European biotech industry association, opined
that in using a market share threshold to determine whether
block exemption is applicable is not compatible with the
biotech sector that heavily relies on licensing. "[The new TTBER]
are not good for [promoting technological] breakthroughs," said
Valentine Korah, professor of competition law at University
College London. She believes there is a risk that "parties
will chose to do their R&D in the United States, Canada
or Australia because antitrust laws in those countries are
not as restrictive.”
For the full article, visit http://www.nature.com/cgi-taf/
DynaPage.taf?file=/nbt/journal/v22/n6/full/nbt0604-643.html.
GE AMENDMENTS HAMPER RESEARCH IN GERMANY
The Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research
Foundation) said that the draft amendment prepared by the German
federal government on the Genetic Engineering Act restricts
innovation and research in Germany.
In a statement,
the DFG noted that it opposes three aspects of the draft
amendment. One is that the draft assumes that
a particular risk is automatically attached to the introduction
of genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Second, is that the
amendment intends to hold users of GMOs responsible for “intrusion” by
GMOs into conventionally or ecologically produced seeds. Thirdly,
the DFG does not agree with the planned separation of the Central
Commission for Biological Safety into two committees and the
inclusion of members without technical expertise.
The DFG also frowned on the suggested establishment of a federal
register for recording the location of GMOs, as well as the
long lead time prior to sowing GMOs.
For
further information contact: Prof. Jörg Hacker, Department
of Molecular Infection Biology, University of Würzburg
at j.hacker@mail.uni-wuerzburg.de.
The
statement in German is available at http://www.dfg.de/
aktuelles_presse/reden_stellungnahmen/2004/
download/gentechnikrecht_0604.pdf.
CARTAGENA PROTOCOL AND AGRI-BIOTECH
“The biotech community needs an international agreement
to harmonize regulatory supervision of biotech. It is not an
option to wish the Cartagena Protocol to fade away; we would
have to negotiate another agreement on the same subject if
it were not there,” says Willy De Greef of The Plant
Biotechnology Institute for Developing Countries (IPBO), Department
of Molecular Genetics, Ghent University, Belgium.
In his
article entitled “The Cartagena Protocol and
the future of agri-biotech,” De Greef observed that the
regulation of biotechnology, via the Cartagena Protocol, poses
a threat to the efforts of public research institutions to
create sustainable solutions for food security and health problems
in developing countries. At present, the way that the protocol
is being implemented, according to the author, limits the capability
of practitioners and scientists to use biotechnology to improve
the quality of life for the poor in developing countries.
To improve the situation, the author suggests that a platform
for public sector research be created to provide a venue for
the concerns and needs of the scientific community in the implementation
of the Cartagena Protocol. Likewise, he also suggested that
scientists should be represented at the Protocol meetings;
the positions for the public goods research sector be defended;
and information on the impact of regulatory options currently
being debated be provided.
For more
information, email Willy De Greef at willy.degreef@ibrs.be.
His commentary was also featured at Nature and can be downloaded
at http://www.nature.com/
cgi-taf/DynaPage.taf?file=/nbt/journal/v22/n7/full/nbt0704-811.html&filetype=pdf
KENYAN SCIENTISTS ROOT FOR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY PARK
The government of Kenya has been asked to support the establishment
of Science and Technology Parks if the country is to realize
its stated dream of industrializing by the year 2020. The request
was made in Nairobi by about 100 participants in this year's
Scientific Revival Day in Africa (SRDA) workshop, which was
jointly organized by the International Service for the Acquisition
of Agri-biotech Applications AfriCenter (ISAAA AfriCenter),
the African Academy of Sciences (AAS), The Kenya National Academy
of Sciences (KNAS), and the African Technology Policy Studies
Network (ATPS).
June 30
was declared Africa's science and technology (S&T)
day way back in 1987 by the Organization of African Unity (OAU),
now renamed African Union (AU). The meeting revealed that most
African countries, including Kenya, lacked science and technology
policies to guide developments in the sector. They called on
the governments to institute such policies to clear the way
for growth in S&T. They were categorical that the continent
would not industrialize if S&T continued to occupy obscure
positions in the priority list of the powers that be. They
also discussed the critical roles S&T Parks continue to
play in the success of Western and South East Asian economies.
The participants,
likewise, identified biotechnology, health, telecommunication,
information technology, and textile as key
areas that could immediately benefit from such engines of growth
if they were to be established locally. Despite the significance
of S&T Parks in development, only five African countries
(Morocco, South Africa, Egypt, Senegal and Madagascar) have
them. This compares very poorly with China who has 83, Britain
63, and France 60. Ten top Kenya scientists and industrialists
were mandated to seek audience with the government regarding
the establishment of the parks./Kenya Biotechnology Information
Center
NEW £25M
CROP RESEARCH CENTER
The
Scottish Agricultural Science Agency (SASA) is soon to start
work
on its new £25 million research center that
is envisioned to be the venue from where future GM crop trials
in Scotland will be monitored. Scientists at the Edinburgh-based
research institute are engaged in researches involving pesticides
to the development of new types of crops.
From
its new location at Gogarbank Farm, SASA scientists will
also look at the
genetics of plant breeding, how new crop varieties
fit in with existing farming systems, and their environmental
impact.
The research activities at SASA is said to form the backbone
of the Scottish Executive agency's specialist research work.
The institute's duties also include carrying out checks on
GM trials, preserving and maintaining a wide range of historic,
heritage and other varieties of potatoes, cereals and peas,
and monitoring the pesticide load in diets and the pattern
of pesticides use.
Read the news article from the Scotsman at http://news.scotsman.com/edinburgh.cfm?id=761942004.
PLANT ENZYME FUNCTION CHANGES WITH CELL LOCATION
The
location of a plant enzyme within the cell can change its
functions instantaneously. This was the finding of scientists
at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory
who noted that it was the first example of location-dependent
production of alternate products by single enzymes.
Researcher
John Shanklin said that multifunctional enzymes
could substantially expand the diversity of metabolic products
available to a cell, thus increasing the organism's ability
to adapt to changing conditions. The finding also provide
new ways to tailor plant products to meet specific needs,
such
as growing crop plants that make different and perhaps healthier
oils. The
full paper is published in the July 13, 2004 issue of the
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. See
a popular
article on this research at http://www.bnl.gov/bnlweb/
newsindex.html.
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