BioLines
Vol. 44 Sept 2003 Editor: M. Koch |
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AfricaBio Biotechnology
Stakeholders Association
Tel: 012 667 2689 Fax: 012 667 1920
www.africabio.com |
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BioLines is AfricaBio’s ‘Biotechnology
Headlines’ – a quick guide to what is topical. By design, the articles are
not exhaustive, but references are given to follow up points of interest. Let
us know what you like and dislike about BioLines and what you want to see as part of
this service. Articles are edited to meet space requirements. It is not the
intention of this service to infringe on copyright. Biolines is issued free of charge
and every effort is made to acknowledge the source of information. |
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CONTENTS:
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"Learn to speak to
society through easily understood language, so that the latest inventions
can be adopted without resistance"
Removing fears about
biotechnology
Duncan Mboyah,
Scientists need to communicate with the public in easily understood language to
dispel anxiety about biotechnology,
"Learn to speak to society through easily understood language, so that the
latest inventions can be adopted without resistance," said Professor Prakash, who also noted that the future of biotechnology
hinged on how it was perceived by policy makers and the public. Professor Prakash observed it was unfortunate that public concerns
over the safety of GM foods and their environmental and socio-economic impacts
had neither been addressed by scientists nor communicated in a way the public
could understand. GMOs had been consumed by millions of people in the
Professor
Prakash told scientists to respond to misinformation
about biotechnology, network with journalists, write newspaper commentaries and
give regular lectures at public forums in a bid to allay public fears. Kenyan
legislators attending the workshop suggested more forums were necessary to
enable them to understand what biotechnology was all about, before the
country's national Biosafety Framework Bill was taken to Parliament for
enactment later this year. "From the look of things, biotechnology is a
very noble idea of eradicating poverty, but unfortunately the public and the
legislators do not understand the protocols and conventions guiding it,"
legislator Mwancha Okioma
said. From the workshop, he could single out biotechnology as one way of eradicating
poverty amongst his constituents and henceforth improving the country's
economy, Mr Okioma said. Legislator Betty Tett observed that anything new in man's environment was feared
until explanations were given to enable acceptance.
Executive
Director of
Legislator Betty Tett
observed that anything new in man's environment was feared until
explanations were given to enable acceptance.
Members of the African Biotechnology Stakeholders Forum (ABSF) were advised to
avoid attacking individuals opposed to them, to always use a scientific basis
for their statements and to build alliances in order to have a broad base of
support outside agricultural biotechnology. "It is through this approach
that the NZ Government allowed importation, development and release of GMOs,
regulated by the Environmental Risk Management Authority (ERMA)." Kenyan
journalist Mr. John Wachai told participants that
very few newspapers in
whom had never been to school.
He commended ABSF for offering training opportunities for science journalists
in the region and appealed to other organizations to come forward and help
equip journalists with scientific skills to enable them to communicate new
developments in science with to the public. An entomologist with CAB
International Dr. Walter Ogutu told participants, including
scientists from 12 African countries, to adopt the NZ communication methodology
of involving the concerned parties and the public. Dr Ogutu
observed that the approach, which is equivalent to the bottom up approach in
development, could make society see the new technology as theirs. "It is
even better to send our legislators, scientists, journalists and other
stakeholders to NZ for a fact finding mission on the viability of GMOs,"
Dr Ogutu suggested, reacting to a call from legislators
for time to see for themselves how GM foods have been adopted in other
countries, before they enact Kenya's Biosafety Bill that will
legalise importation and production of GM crops.
GMO maize boosts
yields of emergent farmers by 220.25%
Hans
Lombard Public Relations, AfricaBio Press release, 13 Apr 03
“Bt
maize has changed our lives. The emergent farmers’ struggle for survival will
be greatly reduced in future. Now we can eradicate poverty and produce enough
food to feed our people. Farming will be better now, as we do not have to worry
about the stalkborer that destroyed our crop in the
past. This new technology is what
He
said farmers are happy to buy new seed every year to benefit from the higher
yields fresh seed guarantees. For many years now, farmers have no longer been
saving seed to plant the following year. This habit reduced production. All the
farmers use 3.2.1 (25) fertilizer at planting followed by a top dressing of LAN
6 weeks later. “Our emergent farmers are now focussing on agriculture as a
business. In the first place to produce food for himself plus a substantial
surplus that can be converted into cash to improve his livelihood, to improve
his home, to send his children to school and to college to earn a better living
for themselves,’ he added. He cited his own case as an example. He started
farming in 1969 with a bicycle. By always buying the latest hybrid seeds that
became available he increased his income. From the bicycle he progressed to a bakkie. Then followed a tractor, plough
and planter. Next he built himself a 7-roomed home. All paid for.
Three
fellow farmers confirmed their increased yields as follows:
- Paulos Mwelase of Siwohlo-Kwa Hlabisa planted 2 ha of Bt
maize. Yield 45 bags compared to 6 bags “of rotten maize” last year. An
increase of 650%. He will keep 10 bags for himself for food and sell 35
bags for R3 500. He is chairman of the Thubalethu
Farmers’
- Daniel Ndwandwe planted ½ a hectare. His yield was 14 bags
compared to 10 bags last year. A yield increase of 40%.
- Wilson Nkosi palnted 2 hectares.
His yield was 80 bags compared to 30 bags last year, an increase of 166%
or R5 000 extra income. “There is nothing that
will ever separate me from Bt maize. The higher
price of the seed is not an issue. I am going to double my planting next
season,” he emphasised.
300 000 ha of maize
(10%), 24 000 ha of cotton (88%) and 30 000 ha of soya (27%). SASAE Symposium 2003
Planting estimates suggest that GM hectarage
in
African
biotechnology crusaders are working around the clock to convince their
governments to embrace technology as a remedy to the food crisis in the
continent. Through workshops and brain storming sessions with policy makers, scientists
and crop-biology experts are assertively lobbying for the passing of key
biosafety legislation. In
Kenyan
parliamentarians requested more information from scientists to help them
understand the science involved in biotechnology, before any Bill is introduced
in Parliament.
biotechnology. The country is presently acting under a set of rules developed
in 1998 to guide it on the adoption of biotechnology.
The story is the same for other countries in
First
Parkinson's gene-therapy patient keeps faith
Ransdell Pierson, 20 Aug 03. From Reuters (shortened)
Two days after becoming the first adult to
receive gene therapy for Parkinson's disease, Nathan Klein said he was glad to
have taken "a big step forward, or maybe
backward" to help himself and others with the progressive movement
disorder. The 55-year-old television producer was up and about and in wise-cracking
good spirits, at a press conference at New York-Presbyterian Hospital, where
surgeons performed the risky 5-hour brain operation. "It feels good to get
all this attention. I've never been on this end of the camera before,"
said Klein, who helped produce the syndicated television programme
"Everyday with Joan Lunden" in the early
1990s. Klein said he felt no better or any worse than before the operation,
during which Dr. Michael Kaplitt delivered gene
therapy droplets to the target area of his brain through an opening in his
skull. The droplets contained countless copies of a normally occurring gene,
called GAD, that doctors hope will begin producing its
designated protein. The protein, in turn, is meant to produce a molecule called
GABA, whose role in the brain is to calm overexcited nerve cells. The genes are
unable by themselves to enter brain cells. So each copy was stuffed into a
seemingly harmless virus called the adeno-associated
virus, which can penetrate human cells and drop off its gene cargo.
Parkinson's, which affects
1.5 million Americans, is a progressive disorder in which damage to nerve cells
in a deep part of the brain eventually causes muscle shaking or rigidity, poor
coordination and difficulty in walking. The nerve damage disrupts production of
GABA as well as a brain messenger chemical called dopamine that sends nerve
signals to muscles. "GABA normally acts as a brake to control firing of
neurons, but the firing becomes extremely rapid" among people with
Parkinson's, said Dr. Matthew During, a medical professor at the University of
Auckland who helped conduct earlier animal trials of the gene therapy
technique. The hope is the transplanted genes will spur production of enough
new GABA molecules to replace those lost to the disease.
Klein is the first of 12
patients with advanced Parkinson's disease the hospital aims to treat with the
technique, which was approved by US regulators. All must have had the disease
for at least 5 years and no longer benefit from available drugs and surgical
treatments. New York-Presbyterian plans to begin treating the second patient in
about a month, after assessing whether Klein is safely weathering the
procedure. In the meantime, doctors said they hope he will not encounter
serious side effects from the therapy, including fever and potentially dangerous
brain inflammation. Klein, his full head of silver hair parted on either side
of an eight-inch surgical scar, exuded nothing but optimism. "I hope the
gene therapy gives me a chance of getting better because right now I have
trouble walking and can't play ball with my son," he said in an interview.
He said he was no longer helped by Parkinson's treatments, including a widely
used pill called levodopa that is converted into
dopamine when it enters the brain. Klein said he plans to return home today to
Scores of gene therapy
trials have been launched without success since 1990, for a wide array of
diseases, including cystic fibrosis, AIDS and cancer. Two French boys with
severe immune deficiency were cured with gene therapy, but they later developed
leukemia, casting a cloud over the potential of such treatments.
Genetically engineered
plants produce cervical cancer vaccine components
SeedQuest, 15 Aug 03. From AgBioView 21 Aug
03. (shortened) http://www.seedquest.com/News/releases/2003/august/6409.htm
Researchers
from
in the Sept 03 issue of the Journal of Virology. 'Cervical cancer is linked to
infection with HPV and is the 3rd most common cancer among women worldwide.
There is a strong demand for the development of an HPV preventive vaccine,' say
the researchers.
In the study, the researchers genetically engineered tobacco and potato plants
to produce a major structural protein of HPV. When the protein was purified and
administered to mice, it induced an immune response. When the potatoes were fed
to mice, they also induced an immune response, though not as significant. 'Here,
we demonstrated as a first step that it is possible to produce transgenic
pla