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National scene: Scientists seek guidelines for stem cell research
A WIDE-RANGING dialogue between scientists, policy makers, religious scholars and the public is badly needed to ensure that research in the area of stem cells is conducted in an ethical manner.
So said participants during a seminar held recently at the Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation. The event was organized by the institute’s Centre of Biomedical Ethics and Culture (CBEC).
Prominent among those who made presentations on the occasion were Dr Qasim Mehdi of the A.Q. Khan Research Laboratories, Prof Adibul Hasan Rizvi of the Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation, Farhat Moazam of CBEC and Dr Tahir Shamsi of the Bismillah Taqi Institute. Hundreds of doctors and researchers from all over the country took part in the seminar.
Speakers were of the view that stem cell research was a promising discipline. However, researchers needed to be very cautious, otherwise controversies would start raising their heads.
They pointed out that Muslim countries, including Pakistan, lacked legislation as well as regulatory bodies to oversee proper research in stem cells.
— APP
Entrepreneurship
The minister for IT and telecommunications said earlier this week that more entrepreneurs were needed in the information technology sector, as it had become the economy’s major driver.
Speaking at the concluding session of a workshop for potential entrepreneurs, organized in Islamabad by the Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB), Awais Ahmed Khan Leghari said a successful IT venture only required a feasible business idea and a burning desire to excel in the market, whether local or international. “Unlike other sectors, the availability of capital is certainly not a deciding factor for setting up an IT business. Only a workable idea and a strong motivation are required by the entrepreneurs to see their plans spring to life,” the minister remarked.
Encouraging the participants of the workshop to benefit as much as possible from the government’s policies, he said a culture of taking risks to pursue one’s dreams needed to be cultivated in the country. “Too many of our young people are still looking for nine-to-five jobs and they are not willing to take risks in terms of setting up their own businesses,” he said.
The minister added that the authorities wanted to inculcate the spirit of entrepreneurship in the youth. — APP
Job fair
A job fair, held by the Pakistan Software Houses Association (Pasha) in collaboration with a private IT company, was inaugurated in Lahore on Tuesday.
The fair featured workshops and counseling sessions by experts belonging to the Resource Group, Si3, Standard Chartered Bank, Telenor, Warid Telecom, UBL, Bank Alfalah, Unilever and Intel, among others.
The Pasha Job Fair 2005 also featured company stalls where job seekers met experts to discuss their prospects. — APP
Polio-free Pakistan
Not before 2009 can Pakistan be given the status of a polio-free country. The country has not even been placed under a three-year observation period, according to a senior government official.
The official told a national newspaper that if the country successfully saw off the observation period it would be declared polio-free. If eradicated, polio would be the third disease after small pox and Guineaworm to be banished from the country.
Meanwhile, 12 new cases of polio have given a lie to the claims made by the federal health ministry that Pakistan would be free of polio by the end of the year. — Sci-tech World Report
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