INTERVIEW: M.S. SWAMINATHAN

Unesco

Partnerships, Not Piracy

How to profit from biotech? Science and ethics need to go hand in hand

 

August 23, 2001

BIOTECHNOLOGY:

the best hope for feeding a hungry world, or an environmental disaster in the making? While big business and nongovernment groups debate the pros and cons, one of the world's leading agricultural researchers, M.S. Swaminathan, carefully treads a middle path: He argues that the developing world can benefit from biotechnology, but must avoid being taken advantage of by the biotechnology industry.

Swaminathan has served as the director of the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines; he was the first chairman of India's National Biotechnology Board in 1982, and was president of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources. Currently, he chairs the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation for Research in Sustainable Agricultural and Rural Development in Chennai, India, and holds the Cousteau Chair in Ecotechnology at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, or Unesco. He recently talked to Anne Marie Ruff about the promise and perils of biotechnology in India:

WHAT IS THE CURRENT ROLE OF BIOTECHNOLOGY IN INDIA?

At present there is no product available on the market in India that is of value to consumers. But the government has been anxious to ensure that the biotechnology revolution does not bypass the country. Several transgenic crops have been produced locally. These include potato varieties rich in protein and tobacco and mustard varieties with a high degree of salt tolerance.

IN THE PAST, MOST AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH WAS PUBLICLY AVAILABLE NOW, ATENTS AND THE PROTECTION OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS ALLOW THE PRIVATE SECTOR TO MARKET AND PROFIT FROM TRANSGENIC PRODUCTS. WHY HAVE YOU BEEN CRITICAL OF THIS SHIFT?

Intellectual property rights will stand in the way of getting the benefits of modern biotechnology to poor farming families. If private industry agrees to a system of compulsory licensing of rights--in the case of seeds which can make a difference to the productivity, profitability and sustainability for small farmers--then the benefits of new discoveries can reach everyone and there will be a "win-win" situation.

Gandhi advised all committed to including the excluded in benefitting from technological and economic progress, to consider themselves as trustees and not owners of their financial and intellectual endowments. Unfortunately, the opposite is happening. Findings of great importance to food and health security are being covered by intellectual property rights.

WHY DO YOU FEEL THE WAY BIOTECHNOLOGY IS CURRENTLY PACKAGED AND SOLD BY PRIVATE COMPANIES IS NOT WHAT IS NEEDED IN THE DEVELOPING WORLD?
If market is the sole [driver] of investment decisions in biotechnology, "genetic divide" will be added to the list of digital, economic and gender divides. While there are many benefits from competitive private-sector R&D investments, [reducing] investment in university and public-sector research will harm the goal of ending unsustainable consumption and poverty. There must be a balance between public and private-sector research. Universities should structure their priorities so that there is synergy between the two sectors.

YOU ADVOCATE THE CONSERVATION OF BIODIVERSITY AND TRADITIONAL VARIETIES OF AGRICULTURAL CROPS. HOW DOES THIS RELATE TO BIOTECHNOLOGY?
Biodiversity is the feedstock for the biotechnology industry. Therefore, the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity is important to safeguard the future of molecular breeding. The present situation, where the primary conservationists remain poor, while those who use their knowledge and material become rich, is not conducive to conservation. What we need are bio-partnerships, not bio-piracy.

WHAT IS THE WAY FORWARD?

Political will and action are important to ensure that biotechnology is developed and used for public good. It is becoming clear that unless the technological push is matched by an ethical pull, the products of our intellect, as Albert Einstein warned many years ago, may become a curse rather than a blessing.

 

 

 

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