www.czu.cz ; www.usab-tm.ro ; www.raupp.info

A group of renowned biologists, economists and sociologists have requested a
new version of the German law on genetic engineering and stem cell research,
September 2005 translated by Shelley Jambresic, Checkbiotech.

"The anxiety towards the risks of genetic engineering should not constrict
research in Germany anymore, as it does nowadays," exclaimed Wolfgang von
der Dacle, a sociologist from the Berlin Science Center. Particularly
genetic engineering is being "thwarted", Bernd Muller-Rober from the
University of Potsdam complained.

Concurrently, the scientists presented the first broad report about the
status of genetic engineering in Germany, which resulted from a triannual
monitoring project from the Academy of Sciences of Berlin-Brandenburg.

The results showed that the genetic engineering law from Consumer-Protection
Minister Renate Kuenast (German Green Party) is obstructing research and
inhibiting a broad usage of genetic engineering in Germany.

According to the 570 page-long study, 81 million hectare of genetically
modified plants are cultivated worldwide with a year growth ratio of 5 to 15
percent, whereas in Germany even the field trials have been continuously
decreasing since 2002.

The German Parliament was accused of contradictory politics. "The Ministry
of Research is requiring genetic engineering, while the Ministry of
Consumer-Protection is preventing it. Consequently, Germany is under the
constant threat of loosing its science expertise,? Muller-Rober said.

According to Ferdinand Hucho, the speaker of the study group, this is also
the case for genetic engineering in medicine, where the German stem cell
research law allows for the use of embryonic cells in terms of exploring new
cures only within very strict limitations. Yet, therapeutic cloning is
strictly prohibited. Thus, the group of researchers sees the need for
changes here as well. Therefore Hucho announced a separate report for 2006.

For the biotech industry, the report certifies chances of growth after a
slow-ending and tough consolidation. The presupposition is that past
management mistakes can be avoided and that a close cooperation between
universities and the pharma industry can be established. According to the
study, four of five bankruptcies result from management mistakes.

The German Pharmaceutical Industry Association (BPI) praised the report.
"The industry is offering explicit cooperation," said Gudrun Tiedemann, a
BPI biotech expert. ?It is important that the know-how of biotech start-ups
to discover new agents merge with the know-how of the industry at the
development, authorization, production and marketing levels.?

[www.handelsblatt.de]

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