ACCESS TO RESEARCH TOOLS IN BIOTECH THROUGH EXPERIMENTAL
USE EXCEPTION
The biotechnology
industry’s shifting ideology and
the increasingly proprietary nature of research tools are
hampering research efforts. Access to key data and research
tools to deal with new scientific initiatives like plant
biotechnology has become limited. Hence, there is a need
for reforms to the current patent system to deal effectively
with these problems. This is the gist of an article by David
Faye of Canada’s Borden Ladner Gervais LLP.
Faye noted that the proliferation of patent rights can impede
or effectively preclude use of the research tools. As such,
Faye reported that some studies have shown that researchers
are forced to circumvent the patent system, with one-third
of private and public firms indicating that they use patented
research tools without a license.
Faye
proposes a renewed focus on the experimental use exception
in patent law in the United States and the United Kingdom
as a possible means to solve the problem. “If resent
trends to narrow policy initiatives can be reversed or, at
the very least, halted, the potential may exist for public
policy initiatives to permit use of the exception in a manner
which would ultimately benefit the intended sectors,” Faye
said.
See the
article entitled “Exploitation of research
tools in plant biotechnology: Access through application
of the experimental use exception (Part 1)” in http://pharmalicensing.com/
features/disp/1107861077_42089e55c060d
ASIA TO DETERMINE FUTURE OF GM FOOD SAYS YALE GLOBAL
Asia is home to the world's largest consumer base and the
greatest number of farmers, and thus will set the future
for genetically modified (GM) food. The GM struggle will
be determined on which side Asia takes with regards the biotechnology
debate. This is the premise of an article of John Feffer,
a Pantech Fellow from Stanford University, in YaleGlobal,
an online publication of the Yale Center for the Study of
Globalization.
Feffer
notes that “The stakes in Asia's decision on
GM food are enormous: a huge market in seeds and crops, a
total restructuring of farming practice, and a test of civil
society's strength in countries where governments routinely
dictate agricultural policy. The backlash against new technologies
can be either a temporary speed bump or a significant obstacle.” Which
side Asia accepts, Feffer adds, will determine the state
of biotechnology.
A
certain ambivalence among Asian countries suggests cautious
entry into the GM arena with strong GM research activities
tempered with moratorium on planting food crops. China for
example, has an active research and development system on
GM, remains the largest importer of GM soybeans, is growing
a significant amount of GM cotton, but has not yet approved
any GM crop for consumption.
See
the article online at http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/
display.article?id=4956.
THE MARKET POTENTIAL OF A NEW GM SOYBEAN
The market and welfare effects of introducing high-oleic
soybeans are determined by the relative prices of products
using the new soybeans as an input in their production process,
the distribution of consumer preferences, and the benefits
consumers perceive from the new product. This is the main
point raised by Konstantinos Giannakas and Amalia Yiannaka
of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, USA in an ex-ante
analysis they conducted to analyze the market potential of
a second-generation, genetically modified, high-oleic soybean
developed at the University of Nebraska.
The authors note that the lower the prices of products using
the new soybeans and/or the greater the value consumers place
on the new product attribute, the greater the market acceptance
of the new high-oleic soybeans, the market share of the US
in the world market for soybeans, and the domestic producer
welfare gains from the introduction of the new technology.
On the other hand, if the value consumers place on the new
product attribute is sufficiently high, introducing high-oleic
soybeans will drive the conventional soybeans out of the
market, attract consumers of substitute products, and give
considerable benefits to all domestic soybean producers.
Hence,
the authors suggest that a successful commercialization
strategy might need to focus on the consumer to include determining
the value that high oleic content adds to different products
(such as soy oil). An effective communication of potential
health and other benefits to consumers is also necessary.
See
the full report at http://www.agbioforum.org/v7n3/
v7n3a02-giannakas.htm.
STUDY SHOWS GM CORN CAN BENEFIT AFRICA
Poorer
farmers in low potential areas in Africa can benefit more
from planting Bt corn. So says a study on “Assessing
the benefits and risks of GE crops: Evidences from the insect
resistant maize for Africa project” by H. de Groote
and colleagues. Results of the study showed that most objections
to Bt corn cannot be substantiated. These objections include
inability of the technology to address small farmers’ needs,
irrelevant crop traits relative to demand, and agro-businesses
benefiting more from it.
An evaluation
of the Insect Resistant Maize for Africa (IRMA) project
that started in 1999 was done and “after five
years of research in the first phase, it can be shown that
most, but not, all concerns against Bt maize can be answered.” The
project used both conventional breeding and biotechnology
and considered both biophysical as well as social aspects
of the technologies.
Groote and colleagues noted that demand for Bt maize is
likely to be high since corn is a major food crop in Kenya
yet production remains low. Among the top constraints that
can be addressed by the technology include problems related
to seed quality, pest problems, and yield losses. Farm surveys
showed that most areas had enough alternative hosts that
form natural refugia and prevent the build-up of resistance
against the toxins.
View
the complete article at http://www.isb.vt.edu/news/
2005/artspdf/feb0503.pdf or http://www.isb.vt.edu/news/
2005/news05.feb.html#feb0503.
Contact
de Groote at h.degroote@cgiar.org.
AGROBACTERIUM TRANSFER TECHNOLOGY RESOLVED
Bayer CropScience, Monheim, the Max Planck Society and their
affiliate Garching Innovation GmbH, both based in Munich,
Germany and Monsanto Company have reached an agreement
that resolves long-standing patent interference or other
proceedings in different countries involving the use of
Agrobacterium-mediated transformation to create transgenic
crops. Agrobacterium transformation technology allows scientists
to transfer DNA to plant cells.
Under
the agreement, the three institutions will cross license
their respective Agrobacterium-mediated transformation technologies
worldwide. Bayer CropScience, Max Planck’s exclusive
licensee, and Monsanto will provide each other, in selected
areas of the world, non-exclusive licenses related to the
development, use and sale of transgenic crops. Monsanto will
also provide Max Planck Society with a license in the United
States for research purposes.
"This agreement secures freedom for the involved parties
in the field of Agrobacterium-mediated transformation technology,
thereby ensuring present and future market access for their
respective technologies in the United States and Canada," said
Dr. Bernward Garthoff, member of the Bayer CropScience Board
of Management, responsible for R&D.
View
the Bayer CropScience information release at:http://www.bayercropscience.com/bayer/cropscience/
cscms.nsf/id/Patent_dispute_resolved?Open&ccm=
500050000&L=EN&markedcolor=%23003399 or
contact Annette Josten of Bayer CropScience at annette.josten@bayercropscience.com.
NZ SEEKS PUBLIC COMMENT ON USE OF GM COTTON
Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) is seeking
public comment on the application by Monsanto Australia Limited
to approve the sale of food derived from a genetically modified
(GM) cotton line. The variety is genetically modified for
tolerance to the herbicide glyphosate.
Cotton is currently the only GM crop grown commercially
in Australia, with about 40 per cent of the New South Wales
and Queensland cotton crop coming from a GM source.
The Draft Assessment report which incorporates inputs from
the public comment is scheduled for release in mid-2005.
The Initial Assessment report for this application can be
found at http://www.foodstandards.gov.au, along with details
of how to make a submission. See the release from FSANZ at
http://www.foodstandards.gov.au.
GM PLANTS POTENTIAL TO CLEAN POLLUTED SOILS
A team of researchers from the University of California
Berkeley, and the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) of
the U.S. Department of Agriculture have shown that genetically
modified (GM) plants have a potential to clean polluted soil.
Three transgenic lines of the Indian mustard plant Brassica
juncea were observed to have absorbed two to four times more
selenium from contaminated soils than the wild type plants.
The research findings published in Environmental Science
and Technology were a follow-up of previous laboratory tests
where GM plants performed up to three times as well as wild
plants in cleaning up selenium-polluted soil.
Norman
Terry, professor at UC Berkeley and one of the researchers,
explained that the Indian mustard is a fast growing plant
and is tolerant to many toxic conditions. He added that a
promising aspect about mustard plants is that they can metabolize
selenium into a gas called dimentyl selenide. “Getting
inorganic selenium into gas form will allow it to just dissipate
harmlessly into the atmosphere. No other form of remediation
can do that,” Terry explained.
See the UC Berkeley release at http://www.berkeley.edu/
news/media/releases/2005/02/01_plantremediation.shtml.
ANNOUNCEMENT:
The International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech
Applications has added Bangladesh to its growing network
of Biotechnology Information Centers (BICs) situated in pivotal
developing countries in Asia and Africa with some links to
countries in Latin American. Dr. Khondoker Nasiruddin, on
leave from the Bangladesh Agricultural University where he
was professor and head of the biotechnology department, is
the national coordinator. He will be responsible for developing
and supervising projects and activities to enhance agri-biotechnology
public awareness among various stakeholders in Bangladesh.
The office is being hosted by the International Maize and
Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) liaison office in Dhaka.
South Asia is also represented by an ISAAA office in New
Delhi, India which is headed by Bhagirath Choudhary, who
used to head the biotechnology group of the Federation of
Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry. The office is being
hosted by the International Crops Research Institute for
the Semi-Arid Tropics liaison office in Delhi.
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