Announcing Science in Society #30, Summer 2006

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Announcing Science in Society #30, Summer 2006

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Wed, 31 May 2006 15:54:24 +0100

 

 

 

 

The Institute of Science in Society Science Society

Sustainability http://www.i-sis.org.uk

 

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This article can be found on the I-SIS website at

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ISIS Press Release 31/05/06

 

Announcing Science in Society #30, Summer 2006

 

The Only Radical Science Magazine on Earth

 

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From the Editor

 

KBBE Europe's New Biotech Bubble Economy

 

An Extravagant Waste of Dwindling Resources that Spells

Catastrophe

 

Re-launching failed biotechnology

 

The European Parliament Green Group invited me to Brussels

to contribute to their debate on biotechnology and

bioethics, and that's when I came across KBBE - Knowledge-

Based Bio-Economy - Europe's answer to climate change and

energy crisis.

 

KBBE was launched in an " event " organised by the European

Commission's Research Directorate General, " in close

collaboration with the UK Presidency of the EU2005. "

 

The conference was held in Brussels in September 2005, and

already, a glossy report has been published entitled, New

Perspectives on the Knowledge-Based Bio-Economy, Conference

Report, Transforming Life Sciences Knowledge into New,

Sustainable Eco-Efficient and Competitive Products.

 

KBBE is really a re-launch of biotechnology after decades of

failures in both the agricultural and biomedical sectors;

and it is riding on the new `sustainability' ticket. It

begins, as usual, with how much KBBE is worth. Janez

Potocnik, EU Science and Research Commissioner, tell us it

is " estimated to be worth more than €1.5 trillion per year "

and " the life sciences and biotechnology are significant

drivers of growth and competitiveness. " So huge amounts of

public money yet again will be poured into biotechnologies

in EU's next round of research funding, Framework Programme

7.

 

No one knows where the figure €1.5 trillion comes from.

Similar wild estimates were invented to promote

biotechnology the first time round, and biotechnology has

returned nothing but losses ever since.

 

Accounting firm Ernst & Young said in its annual report that

biotech firms worldwide lost $4.39 billion last year;

compared with losses of $6.27 billion in 2004. However, the

combined net losses of publicly traded European biotech

companies more than doubled to $1.57 billion in 2005 from

$680 million in 2004.

 

The European Commission estimates a few pages later that R & D

investment is responsible for up to 50 percent of Europe's

economic growth; that cannot have included the losses due to

biotech.

 

Europe's declared love affair with the `knowledge economy'

goes back at least as far as March 2000, when European

leaders gathered in Lisbon, Portugal, and set the goal for

Europe to become " the most dynamic and competitive

knowledge-based economy in the world capable of sustainable

economic growth with more and better jobs and greater social

cohesion, and respect for the environment by 2010. " The

`Lisbon agenda' has dominated Europe's R & D investment and

policies ever since, and all the more so now, the emphasis

is on life sciences and biotechnology.

 

Biotechnology in Technicolor

 

There is a complete spectrum of biotech possibilities, we

are told: red, green, grey and white. All colours of

biotechnology will draw heavily on genetically modified

organisms and genome sequences (genomics). A " holistic

approach " is advocated, which means combining biotechnology

with other disciplines, especially nanotechnology.

 

Red is for pharmaceuticals and medical sector:

" `regenerative medicine', `gene therapy' `therapeutic

cloning', and the more precise and targeted use of organic

matter to build better drugs " to treat and cure diseases

such as Parkinson's Alzheimer's, cancer. There has been

little success in any area except when using the patient's

own adult stem cells to mend damaged organs and tissues. But

that does not result in patentable and hence profitable cell

lines, and so does not contribute to the " bio-economy " .

There is a tendency to hush up the successes of adult stem

cells, as well as the major failures of gene therapy,

therapeutic cloning and genetic engineered drugs (see

" London drug trial catastrophe " and related articles, this

issue).

 

Green is for agri-food applications, such as genetically

modified (GM) crops and plants with " enhanced

characteristics, including drought resistance or salt

tolerance " , also the application of life science knowledge

[genomics] to improve plant-breeding techniques and to

select wild plant for domestication. Again, no success

whatsoever in GM crops, with limited returns on marker-

assisted breeding. On the contrary, evidence has accumulated

on health and environmental hazards of GM crops, which is

systematically suppressed and dismissed.

 

White is for industrial biotech; processing and production

of chemicals, materials and energy, including biofuels from

food crops such as oilseed rape, soya, maize and wheat. In

the biofuels series, you will read how getting biofuels out

of energy crops not only uses up land that's needed for

growing food, they also return less energy than is required

to produce them. In the case of GM crops, we are told we

need them to feed the world. In the case of biofuels, we are

now told there is plenty of " spare " or " waste " land,

especially in Africa, Asia and Latin America. That's a lie.

The latest satellite data show that 40 percent of the

earth's surface is in fact used up for agriculture already,

either for growing crops or for pasture. There really isn't

enough land to grow energy crops for biofuels.

 

Grey is new, and is for environmental applications, as for

example, developing enzymes to help clean up environmental

disasters such as oil spills, and microbes to absorb and

filter waste in sewage water. We've heard that one before.

But all the experience has been that the natural bacteria on

site can already do the job. The only reason to genetically

modify microbes and plants is to slap a patent on them for

the " bio-economy " .

 

KBBE based on the wrong science and technologies

 

It is quite clear that the " knowledge-based bio-economy "

cannot succeed, because it is based on the wrong kind of

knowledge, the science is wrong, and so are the technologies

that follow from the science. KBBE is a knowledge-bubble

bio-economy. But that appears to have escaped the notice of

our political leaders and their corporate masters, who

believe that by manipulating knowledge, they can also

manipulate the market.

 

Several speakers at the KBBE conference blame the

controversy over GM food and feed for Europe's relative

weakness in green biotechnology. This would be put right by

redoubled efforts to " inform " the public on the benefits of

biotechnology. And indeed the new campaign of

misinformation, disinformation and suppression has begun.

 

The Royal Society suppresses knowledge bad for the economy

 

The UK's Royal Society has sold its soul to big business

since the 1990s. It lost public credibility when it set up a

hasty committee in 1998 to stage an inquisition and

humiliation of senior scientist Dr. Arpad Pusztai for

adverse research findings on the safety of GM potatoes,

which could affect Monsanto's profits; and has periodically

repeated unsubstantiated allegations against Pusztai and

other honest scientists ever since.

 

It has just issued a press release calling for scientists

" to consider public interest when deciding whether to talk

about their research results " .

 

Professor Sir Patrick Bateson told the BBC that the Royal

Society is concerned about scientists " producing work which

is damaging " , such as the MMR vaccine and autism, GM

potatoes and stunted rats, and the latest, a report in

Nature suggesting that the Gulf Stream might be weakening.

 

There is indeed evidence that a small proportion of children

do suffer adverse reactions from the combined MMR vaccine

(see SiS 13/14), just as there are good reasons to believe

that as the ice melts the Gulf Stream might weaken and even

reverse its direction (see SiS 20). As to GM food being

unsafe, read the latest of a long string of evidence that

has been systematically suppressed and dismissed in this

issue! I have asked several times to debate/discuss the

evidence with the Royal Society, with no success.

 

When the Royal Society writes of the public interest it too

often means only corporate interest. It reacted quickly and

fiercely against Pusztai but said nothing at all about the

Actonel scandal (this issue). If the outcome of that case is

more honesty in the assessment and publication of the

results of drug trials, the credit will go to one individual

scientist and the media, not to the organisation that claims

to provide leadership for British science.

 

European Commission promoting biotechnology

 

Back at the Green Party debate in Brussels, Prof. Yvon

Englert, chief of Gynaecology and Obstetrics at Erasmus

Hospital, spoke in favour of EU funding for research on

human embryonic stem cells. If public support is not

provided, he said, it will lead to just the kind of abuse

the MEPs feared as private companies got involved; the

trafficking of human eggs, and women victimised by organised

crime networks that traffic in people and organs.

 

There was indeed a scandal last year involving a clinic in

Romania procuring mail order eggs for EU countries,

especially the UK. The UK Human Fertilisation and Embryology

Authority (HFEA) investigated the concerns and claimed it

was " unable to find evidence that Romanian donors were being

paid more than legitimate expenses. " The Romanian government

nevertheless closed down the clinic, while the UK HFEA

published a consultation paper in which a payment of £1 000

for the donor is an option. If that is not a

commercialisation of human eggs, what is?

 

Englet failed to mention that adult stem cells already have

a string of clinical successes, or that there are

insurmountable technical and safety issues in using

embryonic stem cells because the cells typically have

genetic and epigenetic defects, are genetically unstable,

and tend to turn into teratomas when transplanted into

patients (see latest articles in SiS 25). Omitting crucial

information is the subtlest kind of misinformation. It is

widely used by mainstream scientists to promote their

particular research. That is why ISIS has always maintained

that ethics cannot be discussed in isolation from science

 

Dr. Maurice Lex from European Commission's Directorate

General of Research for Agriculture and Food, delivered a

florid speech on KBBE; and although he claimed he was

" neither for nor against biotechnology " , a member of the

audience accused him of sounding more like a promoter for

biotechnology, and challenged him to give information on the

€500 million he claimed had been spent on research into the

risks of GMOs. He said that the European Commission had

consulted a hundred scientists on the safety of GM food and

feed, and not one of them indicated there was a " red light " .

He was in part responding to my talk, " Ecological challenges

to biotechnology from contemporary science " (bookstore link

here).

 

We need to support appropriate biotechnologies underpinned

by a new science of the organism

 

I presented the latest evidence on the hazards of GM food

and feed; on why genetic modification is failing on account

of the fluid genome, and the urgent need to redirect

substantial funds away from GM crops, DNA biobanks and

genomics towards research that makes the EU and its member

countries self-sufficient in food and energy in order to

save us from climate change and the energy crisis.

 

Instead of the failed biotechnology promoted by KBBE, we

need appropriate biotechnologies for capturing energy from

waste to reduce carbon emissions at source, such as

anaerobic digestion and carbon capture using prolific green

algae that can generate up to 15 000 gallons of biodiesel

per acre per year instead of the 60 gallons from a typical

`bioenergy crop'. All the appropriate biotechnologies and

more can be combined in an integrated organic farm that

minimises wastes and maximises productivity and efficiency

in both food and energy ( " Dream farm II " , SiS 29).

 

KBBE is based on a mechanistic science of life that

glorifies competitiveness and rampant exploitation. In

contrast, our integrated food and energy farm is a concrete

demonstration of the organic, synergistic relationships that

enable all life in the ecosystem to prosper profusely and

effortlessly.

 

KBBE risks being another biotech bubble that we can ill

afford. Time and energy resources are both running out (see

ISIS' Energy Report, Which Energy? http://www.i-

sis.org.uk/onlinestore/books.php#238), and if we do not

invest in truly sustainable, renewable technologies and

infrastructures now, the consequences would be catastrophic.

You can only manipulate false knowledge for so long; nature

cannot be fooled by lies and disinformation, and the current

crisis may be her final warning to us.

 

On the other hand, if we invest in the right kind of science

and technologies, we shall find ourselves in a greener,

cleaner, healthier, wealthier, and happier life without

fossil fuels, if not by 2010, then certainly by 2050.

 

All SiS articles cited can be accessed on ISIS members

website: http://www.i-sis.org.uk/isisnews.php

 

 

Contents

 

From the Editor

 

SiS Review

 

The Constant Gardener

 

The Silent Forest

 

Letters to the Editor

 

Technology Watch

 

Plant Steroids in Transgenic Plants Safe for Humans?

 

Therapeutic Vaccines for Allergy in GM Rice

 

GM-Free

 

More Illnesses Linked to Bt Crops

 

GM Trees in Secret Location in Britain

 

Mass Deaths in Sheep Grazing on Bt Cotton

 

UN Caution over GM Trees

 

European Commission Accuses Its Own Food Safety Authority

 

of GMO Bias – Wide Ranging Changes Introduced

 

Bird Flu Pandemic

 

Fowl Play in Bird Flu

 

Where is the Bird Flu Pandemic?

 

What Can You Believe About Bird Flu?

 

Energy Crisis

 

United Kingdom's Energy Vision – A Case Study

 

Biofuels from Energy Crops

 

Biofuels for Oil Addicts

 

Cure Worse than The Addiction?

 

Biodiesel Boom in Europe?

 

Ethanol from Cellulose Biomass Not Sustainable nor

 

Environmentally Benign

 

The New Biofuels Republics

 

Energy from Wastes

 

Green Algae for Carbon Capture & Biodiesel

 

Organic Waste-Powered Cars

 

Clinical Trials on Trial

 

The London Drug Trial Catastrophe – Collapse of Science and

Ethics

 

Warnings over FDA Approved Monoclonal Antibody Drugs

 

Post Mortem on the TGN1412 Disaster

 

Actonel: Drug Company Keeps Data from Collaborating

Scientists

 

WHO Registry of Clinical Trials

 

Drug Trial Catastrophe & Safety of Secretly Tested Pharm

Crops

 

 

 

 

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