Bioscience Economic Development Needs Key Ingredients

Posted under Blog, Companies, Diagnostics, economic development, Funding, job creation, Medical Devices, Medical Supply, Pharmaceuticals, Public Policy, Startups, Universities, Videos by biotechnow@bio.org (Biotechnology Industry Organization)

Realizing that entrepreneurship is a key ingredient in economic development, states and localities continue to support programs that assist bioscience businesses and capitalize on the regional presence of universities and/or federal laboratories.

With this fact in mind, Peter M. Pellerito, a senior policy consultant at BIO, and I recently collaborated on a report that investigates what specific steps have been taken across the United States as a means of attracting bioscience companies and expanding job opportunities.

The three areas we looked at were:

• State Legislative Strategies
• Supporting Bioscience Industry with Venture Capital and Discovery Funds
• Incubators and Economic Development Centers

This report was the third and final installment of a series on workforce development strategies.

Read the other reports here (part 1) and here (part 2).

Greenpeace Founder: Biotech Opposition is Crime Against Humanity

Posted under Benefits of biotech crops, Blog, Companies, Diagnostics, economic development, Farmer Gene, Food And Agriculture, Funding, global food crisis, Medical Devices, Medical Supply, Pharmaceuticals, Plant biotechnology, Startups, Universities, Videos by biotechnow@bio.org (Biotechnology Industry Organization)

A co-founder of Greenpeace speaks in favor of one of the things the organization has most vehemently opposed over the years. Dr. Patrick Moore was the keynote speaker at this week’s Manitoba Special Crops Symposium in Winnipeg.

Moore served for nine years as President of Greenpeace Canada, and seven years as a Director of Greenpeace International. As the leader of many campaigns Dr. Moore was a driving force shaping policy and direction while Greenpeace became the world’s largest environmental activist organization. You could say since that time his perspective on sustainability and environmental responsibility has changed somewhat.

He was asked about genetically modified crops, something he describes as one of the most important scientific advancements society has made. That’s why he is particularly concerned about Greenpeace’s success in blocking the introduction of Golden Rice, a GM crop.

“Other GM rice varieties are able to eliminate micronutrient deficiency in the rice eating countries, which afflicts hundreds of million people, and actually causes between a quarter and half a million children to go blind and die young each year because of vitamin A deficiency because there is no beta carotene in rice,” says Moore. “We can put beta carotene in rice through genetic modification, but Greenpeace has blocked this.”

Moore says this is a crime against humanity because they are preventing the curing of people who are dying by the hundreds of thousands a year due to vitamin A deficiency.

He says another example of the positives genetically modified crops provide is they’ve allowed agriculture to do things it couldn’t do otherwise, for example growing soybeans that produce omega-3 fatty acids. He says this will be a boon for the aquaculture industry, vastly increasing its feedstock.

“One of the limitations on aquaculture is that fish and shellfish need omega-3 fats, and the best place to get them is from fishmeal, but fishmeal is a limited supply,” says Moore. “But if we can grow soybeans and other terrestrial crops that have the foods necessary for fish production, we can vastly increase aquaculture.”

Patrick Moore is the author of Confessions of a Greenpeace Dropout: The Making of a Sensible Environmentalist.

Bill Gates: Embrace Genetic Modification or Starve

Posted under agriculture, Benefits of biotech crops, Blog, climate change, Companies, Diagnostics, economic development, Farmer Gene, Food And Agriculture, Funding, global food crisis, Medical Devices, Medical Supply, Pharmaceuticals, Plant biotechnology, Startups, Sustainability, Universities, Videos by biotechnow@bio.org (Biotechnology Industry Organization)

Bill Gates has a terse response to criticism that the high-tech solutions he advocates for world hunger are too expensive or bad for the environment:  Countries can embrace modern seed technology and genetic modification or their citizens will starve.

When he was in high school in the 1960s, people worried there wouldn’t be enough food to feed the world, Gates recalled in his fourth annual letter, which was published online on January 24 and reported on by the AP in the Huffington Post. But the “green revolution,” which transformed agriculture with high-yield crop varieties and other innovations, warded off famine.

Gates is among those who believe another, similar revolution is needed now. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has spent about $2 billion in the past five years to fight poverty and hunger in Africa and Asia, and much of that money has gone toward improving agricultural productivity.

Gates doesn’t apologize for his endorsement of modern agriculture or sidestep criticism of genetic modification. He told the Associated Press that he finds it ironic that most people who oppose genetic engineering in plant breeding live in rich nations that he believes are responsible for global climate change that will lead to more starvation and malnutrition for the poor.

In his 24-page letter, the Microsoft Corp. chairman lamented that more money isn’t spent on agriculture research and noted that of the $3 billion spent each year on work on the seven most important crops, only 10 percent focuses on problems in poor countries.

“Given the central role that food plays in human welfare and national stability, it is shocking – not to mention short-sighted and potentially dangerous – how little money is spent on agricultural research,” he wrote in his letter, calling for wealthier nations to step up.

Virginia Governor McDonnell Aims to Lure Biotech Jobs

Posted under Animal biotechnology, Blog, Companies, Diagnostics, economic development, Funding, Medical Devices, Medical Supply, Pharmaceuticals, Public Policy, Startups, Universities, Videos by biotechnow@bio.org (Biotechnology Industry Organization)

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell unveiled an economic development package Wednesday that includes $37 million to lure businesses and jobs to the commonwealth. Nearly one quarter of which is earmarked for life sciences and biotechnology industry development — sectors that are staples of the economy of neighboring Maryland.

The announcement was made during a press conference, in which Virginia Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling said “There, frankly, are a lot of states around the country over the course of the past several years who have been a lot more aggressive in the area of biotechnology and life sciences than we’ve been.” Bolling also serves as the state’s Chief Job Creation Officer.

Read more here and here.