Office of Technology Assessment at the German Bundestag

Christine Katz • Joachim-J. Schmitt • Leonhard Hennen • Arnold Sauter

Impacts of modern biotechnology on emerging nations and consequences for future cooperation between industrialised and emerging nations

TAB report no. 034. Berlin 1995, 213 pages

Summary

Commission and task

Modern biotechnology opens up a broad range of potential applications in agriculture, industry, medicine, environmental protection and resource conservation. This technology is accordingly also expected to make a major contribution to solving or at least ameliorating central problems in developing economies. On the other hand, there is also concern that its use could further widen the technological and economic gap between rich and poor countries.

To estimate the potential of modern biotechnology for developing emerging nations, i.e. its social impacts and socio-economic opportunities and risks, the Committee for Economic Cooperation and Development of the German Parliament initiated a TA project on this issue in February 1994. Under the TA project, possible consequences for the economic, ecological and social situation of developing economies were analysed, starting from the existing state of biotechnology research and currently identifiable applications in agriculture, food, medicine and resource conservation. In addition the importance of modern biotechnology was assessed in terms of development policy objectives, and conclusions were drawn for future German development cooperation. In the course of this, stated expectations and promises were reviewed for their fulfilment potential, their advantages and disadvantages were considered, and processes already in use were assessed. The final report for the project was discussed and accepted in Nov/Dec 1995 by the Committee for Economic Cooperation and Development and the Committee for Education, Science, Research, Technology and Technology Assessment.

Results

Status of research and its potential applications

In the broadest sense, the areas of application of modern biotechnology relevant to developing economies (particularly for the agricultural sector, and specifically plant use) have long made valuable use of primarily nongenetic processes such as cell and tissue culture techniques and biochemical and molecular biological diagnostics. These have, however, yet to show concrete successes in the form of new and particularly high-yield or pest-resistant varieties of plants which would have special importance to developing countries.

In food production increasing use of modern biotechnological methods can be expected, particularly in large-scale industrial production, which is becoming increasingly significant for feeding the growing number of people with »western orientation« living in major cities. Besides possible refinement and optimisation of traditional biotechnological fermentation processes for food production, modern methods will be used particularly to substitute for substances which have previously been very expensive or labour-intensive to produce (enzymes, aroma, taste and dye substances and similar materials). Biotechnologically produced products can in the long term replace agricultural products originating from developing countries.

Developing economies differ in the state of use of medical biotechnology. Poor countries have virtually no research institutes of their own. Pharmaceutical company agents often merely concern themselves with marketing without promoting the scientific capacity of the country. Most newly industrialising countries but only a few of the poorer countries (e.g. Kenya, Zimbabwe) have modern biotechnology research facilities. The goal of many projects in these facilities, however, is not to develop and produce tropical medicine preparations for the poor majority of the population but to produce generics for the drug market in the industrialised nations or the wealthy classes on the domestic market.

Biotechnology applications with environmental relevance are in the fields of biogas and bio-alcohol production, pollutant degradation in soil and water, and bacterial extraction of ores. Genetic engineering approaches have yet to play any particular role in these areas. In addition, biotechnology methods have increasingly been used since the mid-Eighties for conserving genetic resources in gene banks and the worldwide distribution of genetic material. Special tissue culture techniques in particular are the means of choice for the international exchange of vegetatively propagated plant material which has, for example, to be protected against virus attacks.

Need for action and policy options

A decisive basis for sustainable and ecologically sound use of modern biotechnology is the creation of corresponding legislation covering the protection of intellectual property, biosafety and the protection of genetic resources.

Far-reaching and effective protection of intellectual property is expected to motivate the development of biotechnology in the industrialised and newly industrialising countries. The poorest countries could, however (in the absence of special national conditions such as financial support for licence agreements) be locked out from access to patented biotechnology processes and products which are particularly important for them. National and international patent and species protection systems should provide exceptions for poor developing countries which enable these to exempt specific biotechnological inventions from patent and species protection if this is beneficial to the nutrition, medical care or economic development of the countries in question. Through the corresponding international bodies Germany should continue to press for developing countries to be allowed to approach international standards of patent law and protection in a stepwise process. In addition, nations in the South should be assisted with consultancy and staff in setting up the relevant institutions (e.g. patent offices). It remains to be determined how indigenous knowledge of the medical effects of medicinal plants and the properties of food plants can be rewarded.

The question of biosafety has particular urgency in view of the measurable increase in the transfer of genetic technology processes and products to nations in the South for two reasons: it is impossible to exclude the risks of an involuntary release of genetically modified organisms in centres of biological diversity, and also, many countries lack legislation on biosafety and the infrastructure and knowhow for corresponding monitoring. Efforts should be made for emerging nations to reach at least the same level of standards in handling genetically modified organisms as industrialised nations. An international biosafety protocol could form the basic element, which should be adopted as quickly as possible in view of the rapid rise in the number of releases of genetically modified organisms in developing countries.

So far, genetic resources for the search for active ingredients (e.g. for drugs) have been available largely free of charge. Given the rising value of genes and the increasingly necessary protective measures for species-rich areas, recent strategies attempt to tie the use of existing genetic resources to protective measures (so-called use-protection concept). A contract between the American Merck Sharp & Dohme Pharmaceuticals group and the Instituto de Biodiversidad (InBio) in Costa Rica, a para-statal company which collects and processes genetic material, is the first concrete implementation of a concept of this type. So that countries with minimal scientific and technological capacity are not limited to labour-intensive activities (such as collecting the first samples), which will probably relegate them to the status of raw material suppliers, consideration must be given in the interests of sustainable economic development to ways of generating the added value from the use of genetic resources directly in the nations of the South. Practicable and internationally recognised »use-protection concepts« would have to be urgently developed to fund the necessary measures, ranging from the extensive mapping and inventorying to documenting the biological diversity through to establishing the corresponding local industrial companies. A crucial factor for success will be extensive involvement of the local population.

Possible favourable effects of appropriate biotechnology processes and also (where available) of appropriate species will hardly appear directly and unprompted for the rural population. The environment for small farming production and social, political and cultural structures in the rural regions of the South (dominance of local elites, disparities in the distribution of land, little formal education, lack of functioning local administrative structures) will complicate access to the new technologies. These are more likely to be used by plantations already familiar with western know-how or so-called progressive farmers (middle class farmers well equipped with land and capital) than by small farmers. In view of this situation and the fact that the scientific, technological and economic opportunities for people in poor countries are relatively limited, preference should be given to promoting appropriate biotechnological processes (or at least processes which can be made appropriate). At least currently, these are unlikely to involve genetic engineering processes.

A project concept for promoting biotechnologies, should give special attention to:

• orienting the promoted measures to the needs of small farmers, incorporating their traditional knowledge;
• special promotion of women, as they can be particularly disadvantaged by waves of (technological) innovation;
• promoting national and local research facilities and domestic seed companies, as these are best able to ensure breeding development of species appropriate for the specific conditions of the country in question and the local application of biotechnological findings and advances.

Conclusions for German development cooperation

In all there are two guiding principles apparent development cooperation and policy by Germany or »the North". First it should help to cushion the possible adverse results of the use of modern biotechnology for developing countries, and second it should enable the emerging nations to make biotechnological methods and processes usable for their own purposes. A fundamental and general step would be to improve coordination of both German and international development programmes. Development cooperation should also be seen as a cross-sectional responsibility of German policy requiring the integration of measures in various areas (economy, health, education, science, research and technology etc).

The goal of such promotional measures cannot simply be to transfer the results or products of modern biotechnology to developing countries: promotional measures should be configured so that they integrate biotechnology applications into the social, cultural and economic environment of a country, and so help contribute to the further evolution of its independence.

Many developing countries will in the long term be most affected not so much by the local use of modern biotechnology processes as by the use in industrial or competing developing economies of methods able to substitute effectively for agricultural products. To help the potentially negatively affected nations of the South to respond to such trends in a timely manner, a working group should be formed with representatives of government and nongovernmental organisations (universities, NGOs, industry etc) to observe the worldwide development of biotechnology, monitor its effects on Third World countries and try to formulate stragic national concepts to generate alternatives for production.