Let the Genes Cross Borders

I read this interesting article from India and thought of sharing it with everyone. Thanks to Priyadarsanan Dharma Rajan for making the arguments on Access Benefit Sharing of genetic resources loud and clear. Enjoy reading – Mahaletchumy Arujanan.

The UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) recognizes the sovereignty of countries over their biological resources and their authority to determine access to genetic resources through national legislation. The treaty was adopted in 1992 after developing countries bargained for a deal with developed countries that were demanding intellectual property protection. But their strategy has turned out to be self-defeating. With a gap in demand and production of food, developing countries should have argued for open access and free exchange of genetic resources, or the germplasm. A major snag of the CBD was a shift in focus from the ecological and scientific value of biodiversity to its commercial value. Developing countries’ strategy was to check corporate patenting, control the germplasm and ensure equitable sharing of benefits from their commercial use in biotechnology, pharma and seed industries. But their notion that the Western biotech and pharma industries are highly dependent on the genetic resources of developing countries is fictitious: together, the industries deal with not more than nine species and are said to be self-sufficient with breeding material for most commercial crops.

The argument of developing countries has its roots in the ignorance of the world’s interdependence on genetic resources. For instance, all revolutions—green, white and blue—that salvaged India from hunger and made it self-sufficient in food would have been impossible without exotic genetic resources. Even today Indian farmers introduce and domesticate foreign plants and animals for commercial utilization. In fact 60 per cent of modern rice varieties released in India have exotic progenitors; in the case of industrial crops it is 92 per cent. Such transfusion is essential to maintain productivity and mitigate eventualities like pest and disease epidemics. But with the introduction of Biological Diversity Act, 2002, which restricts availability of genetic resources from India to the rest of the world, we have sent an unsolicited invitation for equal and opposite reactions. We stand to lose the moral authority to use exotic biological materials without the formal permission and benefit sharing with the respective countries of origin. Such parochial measures are becoming ubiquitous all over the world.

Even small countries like Bhutan and Sri Lanka with limited native diversity of crops have erected iron curtains around their national biological wealth to prevent biopiracy. This could only lead to disputes over genetic resources between nations, as in the case of basmati rice between India and Pakistan. Moreover, the high hopes of equitable sharing of benefits from the commercial use of genetic resources are turning out to be unrealistic. In India, the national biodiversity authority set up in 2003 has neither delivered benefit to the stakeholders, like rural communities, nor has contributed to the conservation of biodiversity. Nationalization of biodiversity to counter corporate patenting is thus quite a suicidal move. The historic treatment of biological resources as a common heritage has benefited humans. Countries have gained more than their individual contribution from germplasm exchanges through the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research. The international seed treaty on major food crops, which came into force in 2004, was a major step in this direction.

Unlike oil, coal or timber, genetic resources are truly renewable. Their use in a system does not affect their availability elsewhere. Man carried his livestock and crops all through his voyages and migrations to facilitate his existence. As human biology is no way determined by national boundaries, tags of nationality cannot be attached to the plants, animals or the genetic diversity he has been conserving over generations. They are bound to be distributed just as ideas in politics, literature or science. India should take the lead in the next Conference of Parties of the CBD to correct the historic aberration and allow open access and free exchange of the life supporting heritage.

Source: Priyadarsanan Dharma Rajan works with non-profit ATREE, Bengaluru. K D Prathapan is with Kerala Agricultural University

Pior Science

It has been very long since I posted my last article. November was an extremely hectic month with three consecutive major conferences. I was also travelling within the country to conduct a seminar and a workshop. Though this month is expected to be a little quite, we are still going to be busy with all the reports and planning for next year. Come 2010, MABIC will be ten years old, and that will make us busier.

Something else is also making me very busy this month – hiring an additional staff to take care of our publications. By the way, anyone interested can look out for our advertisement at Jobstreet.com. It is certainly tough to come across someone with excellent writing skills and proficiency in English language.

So, that brings me to the title of this article. I know I have written not long ago on the quality of our graduates and the blunders they make in their CVs. Today, I received an application for the Publication Officer position from a University Malaya graduate who majored in “Pior Science”. Since I know many lecturers at UM, I wanted to call them to find out if they are offering a new field in life science. Can someone enlighten me please? Is there a new science field called “pior science”. I need to know and keep myself updated being a science communicator and the head for an Information Centre. So, please help me here.

It is frustrating to see the standard of English today in Malaysia. I am not really for teaching science and mathematics in English, though I do not oppose it either. There are advantages and disadvantages to this approach. These two important subjects should be taught in a language that the students feel most comfortable. A student can lose interest in these subjects if he or she does not understand the language. And this does not mean the student is not good in these subjects. The rural students will certainly be affected most. The other key issue is – are all our teachers equipped with the language skills to teach these subjects in English? This approach is not the only option we have to improve our standard of English.

The English language syllabus in school is of very low standard to start with. Good students can just stroll through it. It is way below compared to many countries. I always have another unanswered question – why is the Bahasa Malaysia and English language syllabus different for the Chinese and Tamil schools? It is mind boggling why the Chinese and Indian parents, teachers and NGOs have never asked the government to streamline these syllabuses. Most students enter Year One with the same level of English and Malay proficiency, no matter they go to SK or SJK schools, so what drives the need for different syllabuses.

We really have to beef up our efforts now to improve the standard of English language among the younger generation. It is not too late to do this. It is good to hear that the government is increasing the time for this subject. The syllabus has to be revamped and more activities need to be conducted in this language.

What has this got to do with biotechnology? English is the lingua franca for science and technology and the corporate world.

And just a reminder – I am looking forward to more applications for the vacancy at MABIC. But apologies – I do not need those who majored in “pior science”. I feel threatened by a subordinate who knows a field that I don’t.

By Mahaletchumy Arujanan

Resume and Interview Blunders

I receive at least five resumes every week seeking jobs and placement for internship. However, finding one good candidate among them is the most difficult task. Increasingly, I feel graduates these days have the slightest idea about resume writing and applying for a job.

These are some of the things that get to my nerve when reading their emails:

1. Almost all emails are written using SMS lingo with no proper salutations. You can hardly find one full sentence.

2. Some take the liberty to write on behalf of their fiancés and friends. I interpret it as the person is not serious and takes no initiative in looking for a job.

3. Hardly any candidate sends a cover letter. It is difficult to judge a person with just all those bullet points. Whoever told these graduates that cover letter is a thing of the past.

4. Most don’t do their homework before preparing their resumes. I had an application from a top student from a local university who said his skills in laboratory techniques and equipments will help him to serve MABIC well. Didn’t he check MABIC website before sending the application? We don’t do research!

5. Once I called a candidate to fix an interview appointment. Two days before the interview, she called to say she will not be able to make it. And guess what the reason is: she has to meet her friend! She asked for another appointment and obviously I did not entertain that request.

6. There was another time when I called a candidate who has sent his application to MABIC to fix an appointment and the conversation went like this:

MABIC: Hello.

Candidate: Ah?

MABIC: Good morning. Is the XXXX?

Candidate: Ah.

MABIC: I am calling from MABIC and I received your application for the position of XXXX.
Candidate: Ah.

MABIC: Are you still interested in the position?

Candidate: Ahhhhh..... Taklah kot... tapi.... (ahhhhh.... maybe not.... but....)

MABIC: Oh, it is okay. Thank you.

His telephone etiquette simply beats me. I remember when I was applying for jobs, every phone call is attended to with full of anticipation, thinking it could be from one of my potential employers.

7. Finally need I say the level of the graduates’ English proficiency? You can hardly find someone who can write and speak well in the language. The standard of English among graduates really worries me.

These are just a few points. I have yet to discuss their general knowledge, attitude towards work, knowledge on current issues, etc. Where are we leading to? What is wrong with our education system? I rest my case.

By Mahaletchumy Arujanan

Big stores counting the cost of ban on GM food

Supermarkets in talks on how to educate public about benefits of science

By Martin Hickman, Consumer Affairs Correspondent, EuropaBio

Britain's food giants have privately warned that they are struggling to maintain their decade-long ban on genetic modification and called for the public to be educated about the increasing cost of avoiding GM, The Independent reveals today.

As major producers such as the US and Brazil switch to GM, supermarkets are now paying 10 to 20 per cent more for the dwindling supplies of conventional soya and maize, according to a report by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).

Tesco, Sainsbury's, Morrisons, Marks & Spencer, Somerfield, Aldi and Co-op met civil servants to explain their problems in finding non-GM supplies.

Warning of the price hikes, the report – quietly published online last month – said: "Retailers were concerned that they may not be able to maintain their current non-GM sources of supply as producers increasingly adopt GM technology around the world."

Despite legislation requiring GM food to be labelled in the UK's cafes, restaurants and takeaways, customers were already eating food saturated with GM fat without knowing, added the report.

Although fierce public opposition to so-called "Frankenstein foods" has fallen from its peak at the end of the 1990s and early 2000s, when retailers vowed not to stock anything with GM ingredients, changing genes in human food remains highly controversial.

Campaigners such as Friends of the Earth fear GM crops could damage human health and the environment and place control of the food supply in the hands of a few multinational chemical companies, warning of a "corporate takeover of agriculture".

Despite the potential public backlash, ministers believe it may now be the right time to consider its introduction as a way of meeting a UN target to raise global food production by 2050. Asked whether GM was the answer to his call last month for a new green revolution, Hilary Benn, the Environment Secretary, whose new food security strategy this autumn is expected to move closer to backing GM, praised "science".

Supermarkets and manufacturers can sell food made from GM ingredients grown elsewhere, but must state that products contain GM ingredients.

After meeting industry stakeholders, the joint FSA and Defra document – GM Crops and Foods: Follow-up to the Food Matters Report – reported that there "is some use of GM food ingredients in the UK, particularly in the catering sector where oil from GM crops is often supplied to customers who are working to lower prices, and bulk packs are suitably labelled. It was considered unlikely that relevant information regarding food produced using such oils is provided to the final consumer, as required in EC legislation."

The FSA noted that spontaneous concern about GM voiced by consumers had fallen steadily from a peak in December 2003, when 20 per cent of shoppers were worried, to 6 per cent last September.

Supermarket bosses are rethinking their approach. After delivering the City Food Lecture in February, Sir Terry Leahy, chief executive of Tesco, said that giving in to concern about GM could have been a mistake: "It may have been a failure of us all to stand by the science.

"Maybe there is an opportunity to discuss again these issues and a growing appreciation by people that GM could play a vital role in feeding the world's growing population."

At the time, International Supermarket News quoted an industry source as saying: "I am pretty certain that several parties involved are actively looking for the way out of their Canute-like positions. Maybe the reality of the costs of GM-avoidance is finally striking home."

The FSA/Defra document reported that many stakeholders noted "it may be timely to inform consumers of the issues surrounding GM and non-GM supply chains so that they have a clear understanding of current science, the status of non-GM market being reliant on only a few exporting countries, and the steady increase in GM production".

Tesco was unavailable for comment yesterday, but the British Retail Consortium, which speaks for the major grocery retailers, denied British shops would change their approach. "Retailers are not stocking GM products and there are no plans to change that – it's a response to customers' views," said spokesman Richard Dodd.

Pete Riley, director of GM Freeze, the anti-GM campaign, accused the Government of being "desperate" to back GM, adding that it had pressurised Defra and the FSA into producing a "scaremongering" report. Supermarkets could work with growers to produce a long-term, non-GM supply, he said, adding any store that broke ranks by introducing GM would be "brave".

Article courtesy of EuropaBio

Blogger’s note:

Perhaps we should rethink our positions on GM food and labelling as well. Either we quickly learn from the mistakes of the others around the world, or pay heftily after making mistakes ourselves.

Mahaletchumy Arujanan

Tell me a story

Communication is an important aspect of science which has been constantly overlooked. A well-thought out argument, a intricately crafted presentation is somewhat of a rare offering among science researchers as verbosity and technical jargon seems to be the order of the day.

TED is a brilliant platform, by which leaders in various fields are invited to give a 20 minute talk, with time limits strictly applied, on the various areas including science, arts, politics, education, culture, business, global issues, technology and development. I have always enjoyed the science talks which includes big names like Jane Goodall, Craig Venter, James Watson to name a few.

More importantly, the short time limit adhered to ensured a compact and engaging talk, devoid of the information fog we are so used to in the science field. This allows the talks to not only engage people within the field, but also out of the field to begin to appreciate the innovation and imagination involved.

As the motto of the talks imply, these talks are “ideas worth spreading".

David Bolinsky - Fantastic voyage inside a cell

Hans Rosling - No more boring data

Stewart Brand - Four environmental 'heresies'

Dame Evelyn Glennie – How to listen to music with your whole body

A Tribute to the Man who Fed the World: Dr. Norman Borlaug

Norman Ernest Borlaug
(March 25, 1914 – September 12, 2009)

The Father of Green Revolution has died at his home in Dallas, Texas on 12^th Sept, last Saturday at the age of 95. If not for this legend, most of us would not have been here today. His efforts in increasing crop yields have saved hundreds of millions of lives around the world. It has been said the Borlaug saved more lives than any other person in history. For this he received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970. And he is the only person to have won a Nobel in agriculture so far. Borlaug was also one of five people to have won the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and the Congressional Gold Medal, which is the highest US civilian medal.

In 1944, when many parts of developing countries were facing the threat of mass starvation due to rapid increase in population, Borlaug began his work at a project funded by Rockefeller Foundation in Mexico to increase wheat production. He successfully developed wheat with a sturdy, short stalk that could hold the high-yielding grain on top. He was also able to build in fungal resistance trait in this wheat against wheat stem rust. There wasn’t a short-cut in developing these varieties. Borlaug collected wheat strains from the around the world and started cross-breeding them. He worked with two crops a year, a summer crop in the low-quality, high-altitude soils near Mexico City, and a winter crop hundreds of miles to the north in the low-lying Yaqui Valley. This was done to speed up his research.

In five years, Borlaug was able to develop a variety that was resistant to rust , with higher yield and that was able to grow in both climate when given enough fertiliser and water. But because evolution favoured wheat strains with longer and slender stalks, the stalks tended to collapse when irrigated and this reduced the yield. After thousands of unsuccessful attempts to produce a dwarf variety, Borlaug encountered a Japanese dwarf variety. And finally after another thousands of attempts, in 1954 he successfully developed a short-stalked variety that was rust-resistant and high-yielding.

Due to this variety, Mexico was able to become a wheat exporter in the 1960s. In late 1960s, Borlaug, began his work in India and Pakistan. India was importing 10 million tonnes of wheat at that time. Thanks to Borlaug again, with the introduction of the dwarf variety of wheat, India too emerged as a wheat exporter and became self-sufficient. In Pakistan, wheat production increased from 4.6 million tonnes in 1965 to 8.4 million tonnes in 1970. In 1960, the world production of wheat was 692 million tonnes for a population of 2.2 billion. With the introduction of Borlaug’s techniques and varieties, in 1992, the world wheat production rose to 1.9 million tonnes for a population of 5.6 billion. This was achieved in spite of using only 1% more land.

Borlaug strongly felt that food scientists should be recognised with Nobel Prize, but this suggestion struck down by Nobel Prize which led him to establish the annual World Food Prize. Dr. M.S. Swaminathan was the first recipient of this. Most part of his lives was also spent on the argument over the social and environmental consequences of the Green Revolution.

Borlaug also became was a strong advocate of GM crops and often said that the critics of GM are elitists who are rich enough not to worry about where their next meal was coming from.

I am proud to mention here that Dr. Norman Borlaug was a Patron of ISAAA. His contribution and memories will never fade away and he will be truly missed.

By Mahaletchumy Arujanan