ENTRANCING as the long-running BBC radio programme Desert Island
Discs can be, you don’t normally expect to hear science policy when you
tune into it. However, interleaved between Beethoven’s “Appassionata” piano
sonata and the finale of Benjamin Britten’s opera A Midsummer Night’s
Dream, a recent Desert Islander found time to plead for a review of patent
laws.
Paul Nurse won the Nobel Prize for Physiology in 2001, and is now joint
director-general of the newly established Cancer Research UK. As a leading light
in British medical research, he clearly knows what he is talking about. He said
he was appalled by the situation in which knowledge “is built on public money”
and made freely available to research but then becomes appropriated “at the very
last hurdle” by a private company. The company pays hundreds of researchers to
solve a juicy outstanding problem more quickly than would otherwise be possible,
and then slaps a huge patent on the outcome.
I shall raise Nurse’s concerns with government ministers and with Alison
Brimelow, chief executive at the Patent Office. I sincerely hope I shall find
that the prevailing attitude in Europe to this sort of patent is more
restrictive than it is across the Atlantic.
Advertisement
IN A country as war-ravaged as Afghanistan, trying to decide how recovery
funds will be spent is a huge challenge for the international
community—but it’s clear the environment musn’t be overlooked
(91av, 16 February, p 53).
Foreign Secretary Jack Straw tells me he
agrees and adds that the United Nations Environment Programme is organising an
environmental assessment to highlight priority areas in Afghanistan and
recommend action. Until that study is complete, however, the overall picture of
what needs to be done will remain unclear.
Straw says that Britain has committed more than £200 million over the
next five years for both reconstruction and humanitarian assistance in
Afghanistan. “The majority of our pledge will be channelled through UN agencies
and non-governmental organisations. This is in addition to the significant sums
that Britain contributes to the World Bank, European Union and Asian Development
Bank. We will work with these partners to ensure that environmental components
are part of the wider reconstruction programme,” says Straw.
At the time of writing, the snows have descended upon much of Afghanistan and
many of its mountain passes are blocked. Until spring arrives and the
snows melt, no true judgement or assessment of the extent of the war damage
to Afghanistan can be made.
I WAS delighted to be invited to chair the recent press launch of the
Research Defence Society’s latest campaign in London. The RDS represents the
interests of doctors and scientists in the public debate about the use of
animals in medical research.
One of the speakers was Nancy Rothwell of the University of Manchester, who
researches strokes and what causes them. She, like me, thinks that we have all
been far too apologetic about the advantages gained by research on animals. Of
course, it is right that researchers actively seek alternatives. But I share
Rothwell’s view that we are unlikely to see the day when experimentation is
unnecessary.
Matt Gregory, a veterinary surgeon, was another speaker. He said he would
love to give the dogs he works with an outdoor run to play in. But the security
threat posed by protesters makes it impossible.
I was particularly moved by the contribution of a 16-year-old girl from
Exeter. She suffers from cystic fibrosis and diabetes. “Had it not been for
animal experiments,” she said, “I would have died before my first birthday.” And
that’s the real justification.
