1-YOUNG FILIPINO SCIENTISTS
LEARN VALUABLE LESSONS FROM BIOCAMP
22-April-2010
The
Philippine STAR
MANILA, Philippines - Two young Filipino
scientists have learned valuable lessons
from an international biotechnology
workshop — lessons they plan to
share with fellow scientists and apply
in the local biotech industry.
“BioCamp taught me that scientists
should understand not just the scientific
aspects of biotechnology, but its financial
and social dynamics as well,”
said Janill Magano, a 21-year-old second-year
academic scholar at the Far Eastern
University-Dr. Nicanor Reyes Medical
Foundation.
“Through BioCamp, I learned the
importance of an effective business
plan in the development and marketing
of a biotechnology product,” said
Kellsye Fabian, a 22-year-old molecular
biology instructor at UP Diliman.
Magano and Fabian were among 60 students
from 27 countries who participated in
the fourth Novartis International Biotechnology
Leadership Camp (BioCamp) held last
Oct. 26-30 at the Novartis Institute
for Biological Research in Cambridge,
Massachusetts, USA.
Organized annually by the research-based
Swiss healthcare company Novartis, BioCamp
provides selected students from all
over the world with the opportunity
to learn from leading biotech experts,
interact with professionals and work
together with other students from various
cultures.
The workshop also enables students to
explore career opportunities and network
with global leaders in the biotechnology
sector.
Novartis works with the Department of
Science and Technology, Intellectual
Property Philippines, Hybridigm, public
and private research centers, and academic
institutions in the country to promote
research and development and develop
promising Filipino students.
Among the BioCamp speakers, who included
some of the world’s top biotech
experts, Magano and Fabian were most
impressed with Dr. George Q. Daley.
An associate professor of Biological
Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology
and Pediatrics at Children’s Hospital
in Boston, Daley spoke on the promise
of stem cells in developing new medicines.
“Dr. Daley’s lecture was
the most interesting. Stem cells theoretically
offer treatment for a wide array of
currently incurable diseases, the realization
of which would be a dream-come-true
for healthcare professionals,”
Magano said.
“The topic of stem cells is not
an entirely novel concept for me, but
Dr. Daley was able to give it a new
perspective. His passion for stem cell
research made me better appreciate this
emerging technology and more aware of
its positive impact on medicine,”
said Fabian.
Another lecture that struck a chord
with Fabian was the overview of vaccines
research given by Dr. Christian Mandl,
head of vaccines research of Novartis
Vaccines and Diagnostics (US).
Fabian who considers vaccines as “one
of the most important medical products”
ever developed by scientists has a keen
interest in vaccines. Her masteral thesis
which investigates how the body’s
immune system responds to a surface
protein of Plasmodium falciparum (the
causative agent of malaria) is related
to vaccines.
Magano believes Mandl’s lecture
on vaccine research is particularly
relevant to the Philippines where “infectious
diseases like dengue, typhoid fever,
and malaria kill thousands of Filipinos
every year.”
On the other hand, Fabian thinks the
panel discussion on conceptualizing
ideas into a business plan is highly
relevant to the Philippine setting.
The expert panel was composed of some
of the world’s top biotech scientists
and venture capitalists.
“The panelists shared how they
started up their biotechnology companies
which could either be product-based
or technology platform-based and how
these companies have grown into very
competitive business establishments,”
said Fabian.
She noted local research initiatives
that could generate commercially viable
products. “Knowing how to transform
a laboratory product into a commercial
product would be a source of prestige
and income for our country. Putting
up a company based on such a product
would create jobs and possibly more
marketable biotechnology products,”
she said.
The “intense and highly productive
intellectual exchange” between
the BioCamp delegates resulted in an
“information explosion,”
Magano said.
“Everyone was so eager to share
his or her educational background, previous
and current research, and future plans,”
he said.
Magano believes that such a dynamic
flow of information should be encouraged
among local stakeholders and institutions
to boost the country’s growth
and development.
“Although the BioCamp delegates
came from different countries, we spoke
a common language — science. This
made it easy for us to relate to each
other, so friendships were easily formed,”
Fabian said.
Through conversations with the other
delegates, she noted the limited biotech
research opportunities and funding in
most developing countries.
As a result, some of the delegates from
developing countries plan to move to
developed countries after they finish
their postgraduate studies. “Developing
countries must strengthen their biotech
sector to prevent brain drain,”
said Fabian.
After their BioCamp experience, the
two young Filipino scientists have become
even more committed to harnessing the
power of biotechnology in nation building.
“The government should provide
incentives to local biotech investors
and liberalize the country’s budding
biotech industry to enhance access for
new technologies and expertise,”
urged Magano.
“We must strengthen our local
biotech industry to create more jobs,
encourage the best and the brightest
to stay in the country, and create products
that benefit not just Filipinos but
the whole world as well,” said
Fabian.
They encourage Filipino students to
consider a career in biotechnology,
which they describe as an exciting field
with limitless opportunities. “Not
only could a career in biotechnology
be financially rewarding,” Fabian
said, “it could also be personally
fulfilling since as a biotechnologist
you can improve people’s lives.”
2-PHILRICE: DROUGHT-TOLERANT
RICE VARIETIES CAN COUNTER FARM LOSSES
by Jennifer A. Ng / Reporter
16-April-2010
Business
Mirror
FARMERS should use drought-tolerant
rice varieties to cushion the effects
of the El Niño weather phenomenon,
which is expected to damage some 800,000
metric tons (MT) of palay worth P12
billion.
The Philippine Rice Research Institute
(PhilRice) is recommending the use of
NSIC Rc192 and NSIC Rc9, bred by the
International Rice Research Institute.
PhilRice noted that NSIC Rc192 (Sahod
Ulan1) and NSIC Rc9 (Apo) can withstand
drought as well as avoid rolling leaf,
thick cuticle and deep root.
“These varieties have the capability
to withstand tension in their cells
under reduced soil water, giving them
rigidity and keeping them erect. These
varieties can also recover quickly when
the stress period ends,” said
Thelma Padolina, head of the PhilRice
Plant Breeding and Biotechnology Division,
in a statement.
Approved in 2009, NSIC Rc192 was bred
for rain-fed lowland drought-prone areas.
PhilRice noted that Rc 192 has an average
yield of 3.7 MT per hectare or 72 cavans
per hectare with a maturity of 106 days
and a height of 109 centimeters.
The variant is resistant to yellow-stem
borers, but susceptible to bacterial
leaf blight and tungro.
NSIC Rc9 was approved in 2001 and was
bred for upland areas. It can mature
in 119 days with a height of 98 centimeters
and can yield 2.9 MT or 58 cavans per
hectare.
PhilRice noted that it is resistant
to stem borer, but susceptible to brown
planthopper and tungro.
Based on the latest report of the National
Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC),
the dry spell has already cost P10.41
billion in the farm sector.
The NDCC noted that the dry spell has
affected a total of 733,342 MT of palay,
corn and high-value commercial crops
planted in 768,962 hectares of agricultural
lands.
Provinces hit by the dry spell are the
Cordillera Administrative Region, Ilocos,
Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon, Calabarzon,
Bicol, Western Visayas, Central Visayas,
Zamboanga Peninsula, Northern Mindanao,
Davao and Soccsksargen.
3-RP’S DISEASE-RESISTANT
ABACA NEEDS UPDATING
by S. Q. Meniano
07-April-2010
Business
World
BAYBAY CITY -- The National Abaca Research
Center (NARC) based in the Visayas State
University here is seeking funds to
undertake research aimed at improving
the quality of a disease-resistant abaca
variety.
Ruben M. Gapasin, NARC director, said
a project proposal was submitted recently
to the Philippine Council for Agriculture,
Forestry, and Natural Resources Research
and Development (PCARRD) to finance
their ongoing research on a genetically
modified, disease-resistant abaca variety.
The center is seeking a P50-million
budget for the research.
"We already developed a resistant
variety but the quality of fiber is
not good. We have to do some more breeding
to improve the fiber quality,"
Mr. Gapasin told BusinessWorld.
The P50-million biotechnology program
will include laboratory works, field
tests, massive plantlet production and
the evaluation of materials.
"If we have the biotechnology program
in place, we can produce a disease-resistant
variety in the next five years,"
Mr. Gapasin added.
He pointed out that there was a need
for this project as bunchy-top virus
has been wreaking havoc in abaca farms
in Leyte and Southern Leyte provinces.
About 10,000 hectares of abaca farms
were infected two years ago. Extensive
treatment by the Fiber Industry Development
Authority reduced the affected areas
by half this year.
But an eradication drive is costly and
the possibility of recurrence after
treatment is still high, experts said.
"Our center has been undertaking
this study for about 10 years. The disease-resistant
variety has been planted in infected
areas and they’re still standing
up to now," Mr. Gapasin said.
The variety is a crossbreed of native
abaca variety and commercial variety.
"We don’t have a variety
that we can offer to farmers. We are
still on the breeding stage," he
added.
In Eastern Visayas, one of the top abaca-producing
regions in the country, abaca production
went down by 46% last year due to disease
infestation. At least 85% of the abaca
fiber supply in the world comes from
the Philippines and the industry generates
$76 million a year.
4-EX-PHILRICE OFFICIAL BATS
FOR AGROBIODIVERSITY
by Ramon Efren R. Lazaro / Correspondent
06-April-2010
Business
Mirror
FORMER Philippine Rice Research Institute
(PRRI) executive director Leocadio Sebastian
has cited the role of biodiversity in
sustaining agriculture during the recent
40th scientific conference and anniversary
of the Crop Science Society of the Philippines.
In his discussion on the importance
of agricultural biodiversity, Sebastian
said agrobiodiversity can also help
solve hunger, malnutrition and poverty,
and provide ready resources for adapting
to climate change.
Agricultural biodiversity is a subset
of plant, animal and micro-organisms
biodiversity useful for food and agriculture.
Diversity in agriculture has evolved
and adapted to varied growing conditions
through natural and human selection.
Sebastian, who led PhilRice from 2000
to 2008, said the effective conservation
and management of agricultural biodiversity
ensures a “reservoir of genetic
resources for use in crop or livestock
improvement; resilience and stability
of agricultural production systems;
and genetic building blocks for developing
adaptation mechanisms in response to
changes in the environment.”
Concerned with the “hidden hunger”
suffered by more than 2 billion people
worldwide, Sebastian emphasized that
agricultural biodiversity provides a
ready resource in alleviating micronutrients
and vitamins deficiencies, and in diversifying
diets.
Sebastian, who commended the current
program of the Bureau of Agricultural
Research in promoting the consumption
of neglected and underutilized food
sources, said Filipinos can achieve
better health and nutrition by including
unpopular food sources in their diet.
In the Philippines, underutilized vegetables
and fruits that are nutritious include
alugbati, kulitis, malunggay, pako,
saluyot, jackfruit, pomelo and guava.
To help farmers hurdle new weather patterns,
Sebastian called for the conservation
of a wide array of crops as the genetic
pool will give farmers and plant breeders
new sources of material helpful in developing
resistant varieties.
PhilRice officials also claimed that
alternative crop management involving
the use of diversity can help crops
become resilient and stable amid the
effects of climate change.
JAPAN
5-GM PAPAYA WINS APPROVAL IN U.S., JAPAN
by Harry Cline, Farm Press
Editorial Staff
21-April-2010
Farm
Press
Genetically modified papaya will soon
be on the supermarket shelves in Japan
just like it now is in the U.S.
This first-ever fresh market GMO food
product is not from an American corporate
giant. It is the result of tenacious
research from a host of scientists and
the cooperation of Hawaiian farmers.
This rare feat in today's contentious
debate over GMO crops was not accomplished
to make a statement. It was to save
an important crop for farmers in the
impoverished state of Hawaii.
Dennis Gonsalves, director of the U.S.
Department of Agriculture' s Pacific
Basin Agricultural Research Center in
Hilo, Hawaii, and professor emeritus
of plant pathology at Cornell, detailed
to the 63rd annual meeting of the Western
Society of Weed Science in Hawaii how
Hawaiian agriculture has done what no
other ag sector has; win approval to
market a genetically modified food crop
in the U.S. and Japan.
Gonsalves was the project leader on
the successful effort to save Hawaii's
$47 million papaya industry. He is a
native Hawaiian raised on a sugar plantation
on Hawaii's Big Island. He received
bachelor's and master's degrees from
the University of Hawaii and a doctorate
at the University of California at Davis.
He went to Cornell University as an
associate professor in 1977. He spent
25 years at Cornell, yet his biggest
professional achievement there saved
an industry 4,700 miles away in his
native island homeland.
Gonsalves left Cornell eight years ago
to become director of the USDA's Agricultural
Research Service (ARS) Pacific Basin
Agricultural Research Center in Hilo,
Hawaii.
Papaya is the second largest fruit crop
in Hawaii. It is grown commercially
for export to the U.S. mainland and
Japan. Hawaii exports 25 percent to
30 percent of its papaya to Japan.
Papaya trees can be severely damaged
by the papaya ringspot virus (PRSV),
which is rapidly transmitted by aphids.
In fact, PRSV is the most serious virus
disease of papaya worldwide.
PRSV was discovered in Hawaii in the
1940s. It virtually eliminated large
papaya production on Oahu in the 1950s,
causing the papaya industry to relocate
to the Puna district on the Big Island
near Hilo in the early 1960s. Even though
PRSV was only 19 miles away from Puna,
geographic isolation and diligent surveillance
and rouging efforts kept the virus from
Puna for years. Puna farmers produce
95 percent of Hawaii's papaya.
However, most producers and scientists
understood PRSV would eventually reach
Puna and a research project was started
in the late 1980s to develop transgenic
papaya to stave off PRSV by using a
concept called "pathogen-derived
resistance."
Gonsalves told WSWS members that a gene
from the pathogen is used to fight against
the pathogen itself. This was done using
a "gene gun," that can literally
"shoot" genetic information
obtained from one kind of organism into
cells of another. The first promising
transgenic papaya line was identified
in 1991. A small scale field trial was
initiated on Oahu the next year, the
same year PRSV was first found in Puna.
The Oahu trial proved successful in
identifying papaya highly resistant
to PRSV. Timing could not be better
since by late 1994, nearly half of Puna's
papaya acreage was infected and a number
of farmers were going out of business.
Rapidly evolving research produced commercial,
transgenic papaya varieties SunUp and
Rainbow.
With the Hawaii papaya industry facing
imminent demise, the industry went to
APHIS, the Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) and the Food and Drug Administration
(FDA), and by September 1997 won approval
to commercialize transgenic papaya.
A year later transgenic seed was made
available to growers.
The papaya growers turned their attention
to winning Japanese approval to market
the transgenic papaya there, since Japan
was a key market for Hawaiian papaya.
However, Japan has not been inclined
to accept transgenic agricultural products.
Gonsalves admitted at the WSWS conference
that Japan's regulatory approval process
is "tough," but it is not
"political." Hawaiian papaya
growers won Japan's approval to export
papaya there. Japan will begin accepting
transgenic papaya this year, Gonsalves
said, because the Hawaiians provided
all the information and scientific data
Japan required.
Europe is another major market for papaya.
However, Gonsalves said transgenic papaya
will never win approval there, regardless
of how much information is provided
because the process is political in
Europe.
Papaya is a staple in many Pacific Rim
and Third World countries. PRSV is widespread,
as well.
Papaya is highly nutritious and full
of Vitamin A and Vitamin C.
Gonsalves turned his attention to Thailand,
where like Hawaii, papaya is a major
crop. Thai scientists picked up on the
Hawaiian work and planted field trials
there from 1999 to 2004. Unfortunately,
Greenpeace, the radical environmental
group, raided a research trial where
the transgenic papaya were growing and
destroyed the plant material.
Continued Greenpeace protests intimidated
the Thai government and misinformation
in remote villages has stalled the introduction
of GE papaya in Thailand.
Gonsalves is not optimistic about the
future of transgenic papaya in Thailand,
despite the fact that the papaya developed
in Hawaii could have a major economic
impact on the industry there without
any environmental impact.
However, scientists and growers from
Bangladesh, Africa, Jamaica, Venezuela,
and Brazil have been working with Gonsalves
to develop disease-resistance varieties
for their countries.
PAKISTAN
6-NOW, PAK JOINS BT COTTON RACE
by Zia Haq
20-April-2010
Hindustan
Times
Pakistan, the world’s fourth largest
cotton-grower, is set to introduce genetically
modified Bt Cotton to sharply raise
its production, a move that could enable
it to compete with India, the biggest
cotton exporter in Asia after China.
The country signed a memorandum of understanding
(MoU) with crop biotech firm Monsanto
on April 10.
Though among the top five cotton producers,
Pakistan trails behind India, which
switched to Bt cotton in 2002.
The neighbouring country relies on imports
of over 2 million bales. A bale of cotton
is about 170 kg.
“Monsanto plans to introduce Bollgard-II
cotton technology (in Pakistan), undoubtedly
the most studied cotton technology globally,”
a Monsanto spokesperson told Hindustan
Times.
The MoU provides for a “framework
to continue discussions focused on introducing
Bt cotton in Pakistan”, the spokesperson
said.
Pakistan aims to boost production, aiming
20 million bales by 2015 under the “Cotton
Vision 2015 Targets” unveiled
this year.
India’s estimated cotton production
during 2009-10, according to the government’s
second of the quarterly advance estimates,
is pegged at 22 million bales.
India grows Bt cotton in 9 states in
about 80 lakh hectares, which helped
raise yields by 31%, according to a
farm ministry reply to a Parliament
query.
Pakistan’s Cotton Vision 2015
forecasts various options, including
transgenic crops, to reach “production
levels of 20.7 million bales by 2015”,
by adding 25,000 acres of cotton areas
annually, along with 5 per cent growth
in per hectare yield.
Higher yields could enable Pakistan
to contribute to the international market
in three to four years’ time,
an industry source said.
7-IMPACT OF GM FOOD ON HEALTH,
ENVIRONMENT AND SOCIETY
by D. Rudrappan
20-April-2010
Business
Day
Genetically modified crop production
has resulted in far reaching environmental
benefits. Chemical pesticides use on
crops such as soya beans, corn, cotton
and canola in the countries where transgenic
crops have been planted, have fallen
by 286 million kg accounting for -7.9
per cent. It has resulted in a significant
reduction in the associated environmental
impact estimated at 15.4 per cent in
2006.
This has further facilitated greenhouse
gas emission reductions equal to 14.76
billion of kg of carbon dioxide in 2006
equivalent to removing 6.56 million
cars from the roads for a year. Green
house gas emission reductions have been
derived from reduced fuel use on account
of less frequent herbicide and insecticide
applications, and a reduction in the
energy use in ploughing the land. The
facilitation of reduced tillage production
systems by the high-tech agricultural
biotechnology has led to less ploughing
and increased carbon storage in the
soil. The additional carbon sink in
the soil reduces carbon dioxide emissions
to the environment.
Apart from the unresolved controversy
pertaining to their health risks, there
are also genuine environmental concerns
associated with GM crops. The dramatic
effects to rotations and intercropping
on crop health and productivity have
been confirmed by scientific research.
Because of the convenience they afford
to growers on account of their producer-friendly
traits, GM seeds generally encourage
monoculture cropping contributing to
further decline in land productivity
and genetic diversity.
Genetically modified crops are considered
a potential risk if they contain a strain
that confers significant fitness advantage
in natural situations. In order to minimize
ecological impact, our aim should be
the conservation of all plant and animal
species in their natural communities.
One of the objectives of the United
Nations Environment programme is the
conservation and sustainable use of
biological diversity. Effort should
be made to establish or to regulate,
or to control the risks associated with
the use and release of genetically modified
living organisms, which are likely to
have adverse environmental impacts that
could affect the conservation and sustainable
use of biodiversity.
Biotechnology has the potential to help
the society solve serious problems,
but the new technology has to be handled
very cautiously to protect the flora
and fauna from unintended consequences.
The fear is that the transgenic crops
will become weeds and that novel genes
may be transferred to wild populations,
leading to super weeds. This is not
that easy, as it depends on the nature
of pollination and many other factors.
Hence, the fear of loss of entire biodiversity
needs further critical examination.
Genetically modified seeds and derived
foods have been the subject of a fierce
debate currently ranging the world with
issues such as health and ecological
safety.
Crop plants engineered to suit the environment
better through incorporation of genes
for tolerance to biotic and abiotic
stresses, and thereby an ethical advance,
while others regard such crops as being
just as environmental unfriendly .The
immediate environment, farmland, and
the surrounding, non-farmed environments
could be affected by introduction of
new technologies. GE of crops for reduced
fertilizer requirement through in planta
nitrogen fixation could be beneficial
through reducing the negative impact
on the soil and the subsequent effects
of run-off into rivers and seepage into
ground water. The application to agriculture
of these new technologies certainly
opens interesting perspectives, but
also raises potential problems.
Biotech crops have raised peasant incomes
and the incremental farm income when
spent on goods and services, has had
a positive multiplying effect on local,
regional and national economies. In
poor countries, the additional income
earned from GM crops has enabled farmers
to meet their food subsistence needs
and to improve the economic well being
of their households. In India and the
Philippines where farmers use Bt. cotton
and corn respectively, their household
incomes have increased by more than
30 per cent. The additional production
from GM crops has also contributed enough
energy to feed more than 300 million
people per annum. Further, transgenic
crops have also made important contributions
to meeting protein and fat requirements
of people.
Farmers, plant and animal breeders are
being told that the biotechnological
multinational companies will be able
to gain patents that could, for instance,
prevent them from freely developing
new strains, or force farmers to pay
substantial royalties on a new, patented
product.
Biotechnology may accentuate economic
and social inequalities in developing
countries: Big farmers with their financial
strength will harness biotechnology
whereas poor and indebted farmers may
give up their farming practices. The
end result is that small and poor farmers
leave the land and migrate to cities
in search of jobs while farms become
bigger and concentrated in the hands
of fewer individuals leading to widening
income and wealth disparity between
the big and small farmers. Large-scale
farmers always favour transgenic technologies.
This will cause loss to the third world
markets through export substitution.
For instance, the artificial sweeteners
created negative effects on the sugar
industry of the tropics. It seems that
the poorer sections of society are bound
to lose out.
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