Policy issues in biotechnology research in developing countries.
1993
Nestel B.L.
Many developing countries have embarked upon programs of agricultural biotechnology stimulated by its potential for impact and by concerns about both maintaining product markets and obtaining access to improved genetic material protected by intellectual property rights. Whereas most advances in Third World agriculture in the past 30 years, have emanated from the public sector, modern biotechnology research with its high costs, economies of scale and opportunities for appropriating the benefits of the outcome of research is dominated by private sector companies in developed countries. This has led to Third World governments being confronted by a whole range of new agricultural research policy issues. Some of these, such as those involving intellectual property rights and biosafety have been widely aired internationally. These are, however, only two facets in the overall policy scenario relating to how a resource poor country ensures that its (often significant) agricultural sector does not fall behind a capitalizing on the potential benefits to be derived from modern agricultural biotechnology. The paper discusses some of the policy issues that need to examined in addressing this question. They include policies relating to macro-economics, social development, science and technology, environmental conservation, ethics and foreign aid. A number of the relevant issues are ones for which there are few precedents. It is important that scientists involved in agricultural biotechnology should be familiar with such issues and be in a position to provide rational and appropriate advice to policy makers having to make decisions on this subject.
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Библиографическая информация
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