Table Of Content

I ASIAN [OTECHNOLOGY AND DEVELOPMENT REVIEW • Bioindustrial Revolution and Economic Development; Evolving Indian Strategy Manju Sharma • Agro-Ecosystems: Challenges and Opportunities R. S. Rana • Debate on Intellectual Property Rights Klaus M. Leisinger • Transgenic Agriculture Reconsidered: Some Reflections Carina Pionetti • Implications of Codex Standards for the Regulation of Genetically Modified Food Judson O. Berkey Research and Information System for the Non-Aligned and Other Developing Countries Asian Biotechnology and Development Review Editors V. R. Panchamukhi , Director General, RIS Biswajit Dhar, Senior Fellow, RIS Managing Editor Sachin Chaturvcdi, Research Associate, RIS Editorial Advisory Board M S Swaminathan Chairman, M S Swaminathan Research Foundation, Chennai William G. Patlolina Deputy Director General, International Rice Research Institute (IRR1), Manila, Philippines, E. DaSilva Former Director, Life Science Division, UNESCO, Paris, France P. Balram Professor, Indian Institute of Science. Bangalore and Editor, Current Science Decpak Pental. Professor, Delhi University, South Campus, New Delhi Editorial Board S R Rao Director, Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Government of India Reynaldo E. de La Cruz Director, Forest Biotechnology Laboratory, The Philippines Hassan Mat Daud Head, Biotechnology Centre (MARDI), Malaysia Nares Damrogchai Policy Researcher, National Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, Thailand The Asian Biotechnology and Development Review (ABDRj aims at generating wider awareness oflhe issues involved and emerging developments in the area of biotechnology. It hopes to serve as a forum of debate and dissemination of information on issues such as developmental potential of biotechnology, and the possibilities of South-South cooperation in this area. ABDR is a continuation of R1S-BDR series (Vol. 4 No, 2). The cooperation and support received from the Life Science Section of UNESCO, Paris, France, and Department of Biotechnology, Government of India, New Delhi in bringing out this journal is gratefully acknowledged. The editorial correspondence should be sent to the Managing Editor, Asian Biotechnology and Development Review, Research and Information System for tile Non-Aligned and Other Developing Countries (RIS), Zone 1V-B, Fourth Floor, India Habitat Centre, Lodi Road, New Delhi-1 10003, India, Telephones: 4682177-80. Fax: 91-11-4682173-74. E.mail: [email protected] Website: www.ris.org.in Copyright RIS, 2002. The views expressed in the ABDR are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the RIS or the organisations they belong to. Printed by-: Multiplexes (India), 94, B.D. Estate, Timarpur, Delhi-110 054 (India) Ph. 395 2438, 3924775 & 7103 Fax: 91 -11 -3940912 e-mail: multipxs(ddel3,vsnLnetin ' ASIAN BIOTECHNOLOGY AND DEVELOPMENT REVIEW Asian Biotechnology and Development Review February 2002 Contents Bioindustrial Revolution and Economic Development: Evolving Indian Strategy......................................................................1 Manju Sharma Agro-Ecosystems: Challenges and. Opportunities.........................14 R. S. Rana Debate on Intellectual Property Rights...........................................51 Klaus M. Leisinger Transgenic Agriculture Reconsidered: Some Reflections...........63 Corine Pionetti Implications of Codex Standards for the Regulation of Genetically Modified Food ........... 77 Judson O. Berkey Biotechnology News from Across the World..................................83 Document: Benbrook Report............................................................ 127 Discussion: Critique of the Benbrook Report.................................. 133 Bio-Web: Selected Websites for Online Biotechnology Employment Resources................................................................................... 143 Bio-Stats: Singapore.......................................................................... 145 ***** Bioindustrial Revolution and Economic Development: Evolving Indian Strategy Manju Sharma* India has recognized the need to harness science and tecnology for the socio-economic progress of the country. In fact, India has made concerted efforts to speed up the research and development, application and commercialization of research findings. The Twenty-first century is the age of modern biology, as has been said by Walter Isaacson, “Ring farewell to the century of physics... It is time to ring in the century of biotechnology. ” One may even call it a “Century of Genes” or “Gene Technologies”. All these expressions are of great excitement to people • • , ' ' , i ) at large and the scientific community in particular. The realization that genetic diversity can be converted into economic wealth and the enormity of biological resources of a nation or a region can be a major feed stock of biotechnology industry. The excitement has moved from the domain of intellectual curiosity to economic and societal benefits. A bioindustrial revolution is thus on the anvil .1 The developments in applied biotechnology are directed towards economic production of new and conventional biological products for widespread human use. This would give an impetus to economic development. ' Secretary, Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India ' 1 Asian Biotechnology and Development Review Importantly, biotechnology is aiming at higher yields from agriculture with reduced inputs and to provide affordable diagnostics, pharmaceuticals, vaccines and therapies for preventing and curing human diseases. Both these approaches will have concomitant impact on industrial.growth. The World over, the word biology is used truly in a very broad sense. It represents an inter-disciplinary field integrating material science, physics, biology, mathematics, information science and many other areas of agriculture and medical research. The advances in genetic engineering, biochemistry and bio-engineering have resulted in a wide range of biotechnologies.. Bioinformatics and biotechnology are intertwined. The latest ‘through-put’ systems to the bioinformatics set up, high performance computers, DNA amplification and sequencing, genome assembly and gene production, proteomics and mass spectroscopy, development of biochips, better gene expression systems and so on. All these tools are leading towards more exciting research opportunities.. A recent report from United States, Switzerland and many advanced countries from a group of scientists indicates that they can make simple, artificial cells from scratch. These can metabolise, replicate and evolve, i.e. fulfill the basic criteria for the living entities. While they will only be synthetic, the scientists have said: “This would mark the beginning of the field of synthetic biology”. To realize the full potential of biotechnology we certainly have to go a long way. in conducting basic research on all aspects of modern biology; the knowledge base needs to be continuously expanded. But what is more important in biotechnology is to nurture the leads of potential utility in the areas of agriculture, healthcare and environment. We need to have demonstrations, field evaluations, and pilot level productions; through partnerships with industry thus we can move towards bioproduct development for the market place. We must also know two aspects of biotechnology research; first a long gestation period and second the ethical, safety and social concerns. We 2 Bioindustrial Revolution and Economic Development should make promises to fulfill the aspirations of the people at large, but the promises should be such that they are realizable in a short span of time. Our assessment is that continuous support from the Government to speed up research and development in biology and biotechnology with the infrastructure already created in many areas, which certainly needs extension and augmentation, with well set policies and regulatory procedures. We have to identify the areas where we have strength, niche and can become world leaders. Industrial Advancement It is logical that whenever new innovations and research leads emerge, before going for their application, adequate validation, safety protocols and rigorous testing is required. There has been concern expressed by some sections of the society about the biosafety of the biotechnology products. It has been quoted that in Europe, the GM products are still not allowed and there has been a restriction on genetics and biotechnology research. It is very heartening to see that on 29th November this year, the full Eurpoean Parliament rejected the report of a 72 Member Committee on imposing restrictions for genetics and biotechnology research. The researchers are extremely happy on this decision.2 When we are talking of biotechnology industry, particularly the start ups, it is felt that there is need for some seed investment even by public sector. In fact, in France they have allowed a big boost to the biotechnology sector by injecting .public money into some private biotechnology companies. They have a law that the publicly supported researchers can become shareholders in companies linked to their laboratories. These are all methods of bringing the research leads to the market place. The “New” Biotechnology is defined as : “The industrial use ofrDNA, cell fusion and novel bioprocessing techniques. ” However, further it was considered that the definition which will go a long way should relate to the world economy; thus according to Vivian Moses and a corporate biotechnology pioneer Ronald Cape (1991), it is defined as “Making money with biology. ” 3 Asian Biotechnology and Development Review Biotechnology has witnessed major scientific and technological revolutions, in the last Century and has greatly influenced various aspects of human life. It is a key technology.for the future development of most countries. TSlew breakthroughs in,genomics, healthcare, fopd, agricultural.products and environmental protection have largely emerged as a result of advances in. this field. Biotechnology provides powerful tools for the sustainable development of agriculture, fisheries, and forestry, as well as the food industry. When appropriately integrated with.other technologies for the production of food, agricultural products and services’ biotechnology would meet the needs of an expanding and increasingly urbanized population in this millennium and would certainly be for the rapid progress of rural areas. The new tools responsible for a bioindustrial revolution are genetic engineering, cell fusion technology, gene technology, mapping, sequencing, analysis, bioprocess technologies and structure based molecular designs. The pharmaceutical sector has had maximum benefit.. Industrial biotechnology sector relates to all areas which use modern biological, rather than conventional'techniques to develop commercial products for agricultural productivity, human and animal healthcare, environment and food processing. Biotechnology :is one of the most research-intensive industries in the World. ' In India, consumption of biotechnology products increased from Rs. 71.54 billion in 1997 to Rs. 94 billion in 2000 and the projected demand for 2005 is around Rs. 145.6 binion. • ■; ■ "■' ■ The industrialization of agriculture is increasing. Due to liberalization in international economy and globalization, the farm products are now highly competitive. In order to survive in the market they must .produce more, acquire the best varieties and use the most advanced techniques, specially biotechnological tools; Precision farming and molecular markers aided breeding practices are no more research concepts". 'They are a.reality today. Use of tissue culture for producing large quantities Of elite planting material, development of transgenic plants resistance to biotic and abiotic stress; effective production of improved strains of biofertilizers and biocontrol agents, improved livestock varieties and improvement in the aquaculture 4 Bioindustrial Revolution and Economic Development sector are happening now. In fact, an integrated approach of agriculture and natural resource management is widely applicable. Key developments reported this year in biochemistry, biotechnology and molecular biology, include studies on molecular transporters that help drugs enter cells,-..proteins with unnatural residues, infiniteraffinity antibody- ligand pairs, previously unknown antibody functions, salt-tolerant plants, the mechanisms pf action of an important drug and an enzyme, and,a series of studies in the,areas of carbohydrate chemistry and structural biochemistry.3 Scientists in the USA and in Canada have created genetically modified tomato plant that flourish on a diet of salt water. The fruit is healthy and tasty.4 The researchers engineered to produce high levels of an ion-shuttling transport protein. This phenomenon can be a boom extended to other groups, specially where there is a prominence of salt water Developments in Transgenics The successful application of biotechnology for production of desired crops to address issues related to malnutrition, poverty, increased productivity, desirable traits, insect and disease resistance have opened vast avenues for rapid industrialization of this technology. The number of countries growing transgenic crops has increased from 1 in 19.92, to 6 in 1996, to 9 in 1998 and 12 in 1999. The total area under transgenic has increased from 1.7 million ha. in 1996 to more than 40 million ha. in 2001. Between 1995 and 1-998 the. value of the global market in transgenic crops grew from US$75 million to US$1.64 billion. The market is projected to. increase to $6 billion in 2005, and to $20 billion in 2010.5. Today nearly 30 agricultural biotechnology products are in the market and an equal number are being-tested for release. ■ . In India, transgenic potatq-with high nutritional quality has been developed withlhe introduction.qf AmAl gene isolated from Amaranthus. Transgenic 5 Asian Biotechnology and Development Review plants of cotton, rice, mustard, mungbean and tomato are being: produced for field evaluation. An autonomous National Centre for Plan" Genome Research (NCPGR) has been set up at New Delhi working on the genomics of plants like Cicer and Catharanthus. A major programme on rice genome sequencing has been initiated, as a part of the International Programme. A National containment/quarantine facility for transgenic planting material has been setup atNCPGR, New Delhi. The main focus of the facility is on quarantine aspects of transgenic plants and also human resource development activities, to meet the future requirements in this field. The biotechnology industry in a short span of time has become a multi billion dollar industry. Current techniques for in vitro propagatior of plants and the ready acceptance of tissue culture raised plants by the commercial sector, have allowed for continued growth within the micropropagation industry. It is reported that over 796 commercial companies are engaged in such activities all over the world and their number is increasing. Annual plantlet production is approximately 900 million plantlets. In India, there are nearly 70 registered companies with approximately 30 companies having immediate plans for selling tissue cultured plants and more than a dozen already in. the market with their products. Annual production is estimated at approx. 50 million plantlets, however, the installed capacity is nearly 150 million. Tissue cultured planting material of fruit crops like banana, strawberries, grapes, papaya, cardamom and ornamental flowers such as gerbera, carnation and orchids is available besides a number of foliage ornamentals. Role for Department of Biotechnology (DBT) We see enormous strength and capability in our institutions such as the Nil, New Delhi; the NCOS, Pune; the CDFD, Hyderabad; the CCMB, Hyderabad and the CDRI, CIMAP, NBRI, ITRC etc. in Lucknow; the new centers like the Brain Research and Plant Genome Research etc. also in the university systems and of late in the industrial sector. So, we have the desired capability, infrastructure, resource base, and also the funds, at least, 6