Scientists, researchers and scholars from all over the world continued their deliberations for the third day at the BioVision Alexandria 2004 Conference, held at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, 3-6 April. On this day, discussions concentrated on "Trade, Patents and Developing Countries", addressing matters of "timing, quality and focus of bio-safety research". Intellectuals worked on finding answers to questions like whether we should move from risk assessment to sustainability assessment? And what evidence base do we actually need to make sound decisions and defend them?.
In a special session on "Intellectual Property Rights", David McConnell, Co-Vice Chairman of European Action on Global Life Sciences and Professor at Smurfit Institute of Genetics at Trinity College, Ireland, spoke of the "genetic hazards resulting from biotechnology being limited compared to other kinds of technology". Professor McConnell pointed out the fact that for the past thirty years, neither genetic engineering research nor biotechnological experiments have caused deaths or accidents in developed or developing countries.
Dr. Yuan Zheng Hong, Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Vodan University in China, pointed out the efforts made by China in the fields of biotechnological research, aiming to make the best of it to boost the production of medical supplies. Dr. Hong asserted in his speech that biotechnology has become the basis for progress in fields of health and human resources, as many medical patents have been registered throughout the nineties.
The same session hosted Carl-Gustaff Thornström, Senior Research Advisor at the Agricultural Department for Research Cooperation (SIDA), Sweden, who spoke about trade issues in the field of biotechnology, specially as pertaining to agricultural seeds and plant growth. He spoke of the several international trade agreements between developing and developed countries, as well as patent rights for the exchange of exports and imports between nations.
For more information, please visit the conference"s website:
www.bibalex.org/bioalex2004conf