October 21, 2002	Monday	Sha’aban 14,1423

Biotechnology existed long before such a terminology was coined. But in the modern times, the word “biotechnology” has become a household word because of its association with the controversial issue of the genetically-modified organisms (GMOs).

The reason why the issue attracts so much public interest is twofold: on the one hand, people believe that it may be the much-needed solution for a more effective health-care, and may ensure food security through disease-resistant varieties of plants and animals through the introduction of foreign genes. On the other hand, there is a wide-spread concern over the safety of consumers and their possible effects on the balance of the environment.

In Pakistan, research activities in biotechnology have recently picked up, with the agricultural sector being most active. Efforts are geared towards capacity-building in biotechnology-related issues and the formulation of frameworks for a biotechnology policy.

Some two years back, the Ministry of Environment formed a national biosafety expert committee (NBEC) for updating the bio-safety laws, handling of living modified organisms (LMOs) and recommending measures for management, safe transfer and movements of LMOS. The subcommittee was expected to draft the guideline on genetic engineering and other aspects.

In July, the Ministry of Science and Technology declared bio-technology as one of its priority areas and ensured that it would take necessary steps for the speedy promotion of biotechnology at the federal, provincial and local levels and efforts would be made to use it for a variety of commercial and industrial purposes. It also indicated that a biotechnology policy would be prepared within two months (by September, 02).

But the question is: were these efforts sufficient to attract investment, funds, and technology for making biotechnology flourish in Pakistan? The answer is—simply not.

The basic requirement of biotechnology in health, agriculture, and other fields are the “biosafety” laws. But Pakistan does not have such laws which would provide guidelines for importing, testing and commercialisation of genetically improved products. In the absence of a biotechnology policy and bio-safety laws, tools for biotechnology cannot be effectively handled to increase production. Policy guidance, therefore, provides for a research strategy that maximizes available resources, capacity building in biotechnology and extension of the existing research capability to handle biotechnology.

What is bio-safety?: In order to understand the concept, it is necessary to have some awareness of what biotechnology is? It is the name that has been given to very wide-ranging agricultural, industrial and medical techniques that make use of living organisms (e.g. microbes, plants or animals) or parts of living organisms (e.g. isolated cells or proteins) to provide new products and services. It is the integration of biological, biochemical, biophysical and bioengineering sciences in order to enable the use of organs, cells, bio-molecular, (nucleic acids, enzymes and proteins) and other derivatives including molecular analogues for commercial and industrial purposes.

Biotechnology products have applications in agriculture, commodity production, human and animal health, production of chemicals and fuels, fibres and industrial polymers and plastics, waste water treatment, bioremediation and bio-processing, mineral extraction, molecular farming and drugs as well as in disease diagnostics.

In biotechnology, genes from one organism are transferred across a species boundary, to another which results in the expression of the transferred genes in the new host to produce a desired product, making the new host a transgenic organism, called a genetically modified organism (GMO) or a living modified organism (LMO).

A number of biotechnology products are already in the markets which help millions around the world. In medicine, human insulin produced in bacteria, growth hormone BST, pharmaceuticals, new generation drugs, active biological from transgenic animals, (cows, sheep, goats, rabbits, etc).

However, the current public concern is addressed towards ‘modern biotechnology’ because the use of genetic engineering allows the movement of genes in ways that could not have been easily accomplished previously (e.g. across species barriers). Less controversial biotechnology techniques used in agriculture include tissue culture, genetic markers, and DNA-based diagnostics.

Therefore, biotechnology covers several areas which are of importance in the economic development, including in genetic resource conservation and utilization for increased food production (industrial food processing and agriculture), improved health services (pharmaceuticals), waste treatment and waste management (pollution control) and in processing mineral extraction and recovery. Hence bio-safety laws should be reconsidered in order to regulate the production and marketing of biotechnology products.

It is worth noting that proposed bio-safety guidelines have a three-tier safety mechanism like Institutional Bio-safety Committee (IBC), Ministerial Bio-safety Committee (MBC), and National Bio-safety Committee (NBC) that controls and monitors the whole process from the lab-testing, field-testing to commercialization and the project can be stopped at any time, at any tier, if found hazardous to human beings or environment. Development of Biotechnology in Pakistan:

Pakistan started its biotechnology programme, “Plant Genetic Resources” in 1976 at Pakistan Agriculture Research Council (PARC). The potential of biotechnology was formally recognized in 1981, when a course on DNA technology was organized by the Nuclear Institute for Agriculture and Biology, Faisalabad. While in 1984, the Centre of Excellence in Molecular Biology at the Punjab University was established. Various programmes through genetic engineering are now being tested on different plants like cotton for antiviral gene and bacillus thuringiensis gene (bt), Rice for Salt Tolerant (GB uptake).

Huge amount of money has been spent on these programmes but these products cannot find a market unless our government forms bio-safety guidelines, because regulatory control over the testing, multiplication, distribution, and safety of agricultural biotechnology products can be carried out only at the government level.

DRAW-BACKS: Pakistan is an agriculture-based country, which is the backbone of Pakistan’s economy; Agriculture remains the dominant sector of the economy.Pakistan is the world’s fourth largest producer of cotton after China, the USA and India. Cotton or white gold as it is aptly called is grown for its lint and seed, which yield cotton fibre and seed oil, respectively. The average yield of conventional cotton per acre is around 25-28 maund or 933 kg-1,044 kg. Bt cotton can increase per acre yield from 14 to 30 per cent. Which means that, on the one hand, it will bring prosperity for Pakistani farmers, on the other, it will bring a boom to all industries and business activities which are directly or indirectly associated with agriculture sector.

Pakistan also offers a rapidly expanding market for insecticides and pesticides. The total market has expanded from Rs7.20 billions ($120million) in 1990 to Rs11.00 billions ($184m) in 2000. By not introducing Bt rice and Bt cotton in Pakistan, farmers have to depend on pesticide to save their crops from pests. This means loss of billions apart from the negative impact on the environment and human health.

Fall of direct investment: Biotech investors often wait years to receive investment returns since it takes over seven years and Rs10-12 billions to bring a new drug to market. Therefore, the encouragement of risky and long-term capital inflows from investors is important for the continued health of the industry. In the absence of bio-safety laws no capitalists would feel comfortable to invest in any biotech industry.

Foreign aid: The World Bank, the ADB, and other donor agencies have given aid/loan for R&D projects in number of countries. In a region with no bio-safety laws they are reluctant to offer aid for biotech industry. This year the World Bank has approved $ 100 million loan for biotech industry in India. On the other hand we are only persuading and appealing to Muslim countries to generously contribute for creating “funds” to uplift science and technology programme in the field of biotechnology and information.

Biodiversity: The reduction of biodiversity is a key technology-transcending risk. Diversity diminishes not because farmers grow genetically modified foods, but because the political will to conserve diversity does not exist. It is because farmers find new varieties more remunerative that the number of food crop varieties have diminished over the last 100 years. But the fact that farmers replace inferior varieties with superior does not at all have to translate into a loss of biodiversity. Varieties that are under pressure of substitution can be preserved from extinction through in vivo and in vitro strategies. Improved governance and international support can also limit loss of biodiversity.

Competitiveness: Biotechnological revolution has led to the establishment of many thousand new “bioengineering” firms around the world. In United States alone there are 1500 biotech companies with a total revenue of about $14 billion and more than 150,000 employees. This development has occurred only in the first decade of a technological and economic revolution that is likely to span several decades in future. In case we fail to flourish biotech knowledge and technology due to the lack of bio-safety laws, we will be left behind in the field of biotech and we will lose our competitiveness and market share in the world.

The Convention of the Biological Diversity protocol (CBD) was signed on 5th June,1992 and ratified on 26th July 1994.

The protocol aims to protect the environment against the possible risks involved in cross-border traffic in living modified organisms (LMOs). It is noteworthy that all processed products and animals feeds are not covered by the terms of this protocol.

In such circumstances we have to understand what is best in our national interest. After all Pakistan has to abide by the obligations of the WTO agreement in order to conduct its future trade. It is also interesting to know that species’ extinction is a natural part of the evolutionary process.

However, they can have profound negative implications for economic and social development in rich biodiverse region.

A significant socioeconomic issue that can arise from the introduction of Bt cotton and Bt rice into the Pakistani farming system is that the high priced seeds may benefit the prosperous and large farmers thus providing a negative externality on small and marginal farmers.

On the other hand, it can be argued that the developments from the application of biotechnology would be beneficial to low input farming practices wherein the cost of chemical inputs can be minimized.

Conclusion: Biotechnology is a frontier technology, which has the potential to provide very substantial benefits to society in a wide range of sectors such as agriculture, medical and health, forestry, animal husbandry, environment protection, and improving the quality of products and services.

It can benefit in several ways, all sections of the society but more so the very poor for instance by increasing the availability and enhancing the nutritional value of food grains, by eliminating the use of harmful pesticides, by facilitating the manufacture of cheaper, safer and more effective drugs, by improving the quality of the livestock, by increasing the tree cover and by treating waste material in a safe and eco-friendly manner.

Pakistan has 140-million population which is going to double by the year 2025 if the present rate of growth continued Genetic manipulation, therefore, holds great promise in the field of food, agriculture and health to meet the growing demands.

But if we failed to activate bio-safety laws, it may have serious consequences on our health, agriculture, defence, environment, economy and education, which we may not be able to face quickly.