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Important
issues on patenting, copyrights, protecting intellectual property
rights, etc., generate controversies due to negligence and lack
of proper guidance from governing bodies. It is imperative to
address the societal concerns and also insist upon ensuring
minimal negative consequences from the scientific pursuits.
The role of government agencies like the Food and Drug Administration
(FDA),  Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA), US Department of Agriculture (USDA),
and DBT, ICAR etc. become pivotal in the process. Such agencies
are jointly setting up stringent test standards for checking
GM foods and products before their release in the markets. A
minimum five-year moratorium on the release of all GMOs into
all levels of the food chain is mandatory to ensure the establishment
of rigorous pre-market safety testing protocols.
The
Food and Agriculture Organisation has also set up a committee
on the ethics of GM in food and agriculture to provide guidance
and determine the scope of ethical issues relevant to the UN
agency mandate in a more systematic way. Labelling of all GM
food was the prime issue in the GMO summit held last year at
Montreal, Canada. Anti-GMO representatives insisted on labelling
of GM products on the grounds that the ultimate choice should
be given to the consumer to choose between a GMO and a non-GMO
product.
A time, therefore, has come to develop a common platform for
bringing together the various factors involved and affected
by the agro-biotech industry. The only way to dispel confusion
or fears about new scientific developments is to spread awareness
about them. This knowledge transfer can be expedited by establishing
technology transfer offices in developing countries. With the
recent changes in the world market scenario and the entry of
GATT, WTO, TRIPS, UPOV and CBD, respecting the intellectual
property rights of a country becomes mandatory. A network needs
to be woven the world over to allow technology transfer from
the private sector companies and government bodies of the highly
industrialised members to the public institutes of the developing
ones. This transfer would include accessing, handling and managing
of new technologies emerging from the developed nations through
formal agreements covering both research and commercialisation
and their extension to consumers, farmers, etc., of the developing
nations.
The
technology transfer offices set up in some of the developed
countries like the US, UK and Brazil are located in government
units associated with agricultural extension programmes. The
TTOs work in accordance with the researchers and government
officials on developing new crop varieties, copyrighting, trade,
marketing and patenting. Many government research institutes
and private companies develop similar outfits to assist researchers
in recognising, obtaining, protecting and licensing the intellectual
property rights. The companies then take up the job of product
devising, testing and prototyping, which enables their product
to compete in international markets. Technology transfer support
systems provide specialised staff for troubleshooting and device
modules for professional training programmes for personnel development.
Institutes conducting research activities are the most suitable
for establishing technology transfer offices. A well funded,
successful TTO can play a key role in the following activities:
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Creating new start-up companies
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Protection of intellectual property rights
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Revenue generation through licensing of IP
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With
technology transfer offices across the world, the appropriate
biotechnology can be made available to developing countries.
The distribution of a new product after patenting by the original
developers should be made available at no or low cost to consumers
depending upon their financial capacities. The TTOs would offer
a multi-directional access to the available information and
provide a common platform for an open, transparent and free
exchange of new ideas. It could involve NGOs and government
sector into reaching a consensus for advancing technologies
that benefit society and serve the needs of developing countries.
The author is a lecturer at the Department
of Life Sciences, KC College, Mumbai.
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