Table Of ContentI 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.
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' 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 '
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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
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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. ”
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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
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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
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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,
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