EAGLES Meetings and Conferences

First full meeting of the EAGLES Health Steering Committee
Date: 9 January 2006

Health Steering Committee members: Jens Degett, Børge Diderichsen, Mohamed El Faham (by special invitation), David McConnell, Ismail Serageldin, Jisnuson Svasti, Huanming Yang.

Momentum 2004
Title: European Action on Global Life Sciences - Bridging the North-South Gap
Date: 1st September 2004, 11.15 - 12.30

Chairman:

Dr. Ismail Serageldin, Director, Bibliotheca Alexandrina

Speakers:

Prof. Huanming Yang, Director, Beijing Genomics Institute Prof. David McConnell, Trinity College Dublin Dr. Cynthia Schneider, Georgetown University Prof. Marc van Montagu, Gent University

Biotechnology too often seems to be the property of the developed countries - until recently this may not have been surprising for most of the discoveries which led to the new technology were made in North America, Europe, Japan and Australia, and the first products were aimed at solving problems in these countries. As a result the OECD countries have dominated the development and application of biotechnology over the last 25 years - they have defined the economic, commercial, legal and ethical frameworks for biotechnology. Unfortunately these frameworks were not designed to take account of the needs or the opinions of those who live and work in the emerging and developing countries.

Third World problems which could have been addressed by biotechnology have been more or less ignored, and Third World science, industry and agriculture have been inhibited by regulations and customs made to suit the requirements and sensitivities of the developed economies. Now it is clear that this situation is no longer acceptable, due to two main reasons. Third World problems pose huge humanitarian challenges for life scientists, and distinguished Third World scientists, who are making very significant contributions to international science, are in a position to give powerful advice on the development of the biotechnology agenda in OECD countries.

A new dialogue is required in which the needs, the voices and the opinions of the emerging and developing countries be clearly identified, heard and heeded. This Parallel Session, organised by European Action on Global Life Sciences (EAGLES) will provide a platform on which leading scientists and humanists will explore and discuss new relationships in biotechnology which need to be established between North and South.

Reports on past events

The Nuffield Council on Bioethics published an influential report in 1999 "Genetically Modified Crops: Ethical and Social Issues". A revision has just been published "Discussion Paper: The use of genetically modified crops in developing countries". This can be accessed at http://www.nuffieldbioethics.org/home/. Members of EAGLES have individually contributed their comments of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics discussion Paper.

On the invitation of Dr. Serageldin, Chairman of the Conference and Chairman of EAGLES, EAGLES organised a Plenary Session on "The Issue of Biotechnology and Sustainable Consumption: The major Challenges for the 21st Century". Dr Serageldin, Yang and McConnell described their vision and ideas on how the South and the North could work to mend the divide. Following the very positive response of the audience, EAGLES organised an open Round Table Discussion at which all participants were invited to suggest mechanisms to develop the EAGLES initiative. There was a lot of support for the general objective of mobilising European public and political opinion to focus European life sciences on the needs of the developing world. Even if there was some scepticism that EAGLES could succeed where so many other organisations had failed, all recognised that the problems are so great that inaction is inexcusable.

UNIDO has had a major interest in biotechnology for many years and took the initiative that led to the foundation of the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (Trieste and New Delhi). Dr George Tzotzos of UNIDO is organising the Global Biotechnology Forum Bioindustries in Development at Concepción, Chile March 2 - 5, 2004. EAGLES has been invited to arrange a plenary session on "Biotechnology: views and opinions from emerging and developing countries". Chairman: David Mc Connel, Speakers: Tilahun Yilma, Huanming Yang, Marc van Montagu, etc...

David McConnell spoke about EAGLES at the conference The Global Development Challenge, organised by Philip Lane and Jeffery Sachs, July 10 2003

The concept of EAGLES was well received at a discussion at the BioVision Conference at Lyon, France, on Thursday 11 April. The discussion which took place at a Debate Dinner, was addressed by the Chairman of EAGLES, Dr. Ismail Serageldin, Director of the New Library of Alexandria, the Co-Vice-Chairmen, Dr. Huanming Yang, Director of the Beijing Genome Centre, and Dr. David McConnell, Smurfit Institute of Genetics, Trinity College Dublin, President of the European Federation of Biotechnology, Dr. Mark van Montagu, European Group on Life Sciences, Mr. Paul Rubig, Member of the European Parliament, Dr. Wang Yu, Head of the Chinese National Centre for Biotechnology Development, Dr. Adel El-Beltagy, Director General of the International Centre for Agricultural Research in the Dry Regions, and Simon Barber of EuropaBio. The discussion was moderated by Sabine Louët, News Editor of Nature Biotechnology.

An ad hoc group supported by EFB met in Brussels during the EGLS meeting "Towards sustainable agriculture for developing countries: options from life sciences and biotechnologies" 30-31 January 2003. This Steering Group discussed and established EAGLES aims and declaration. New members were invited to join, many from developing and emerging countries Steering Committee Meeting, 29 January 2003, Brussels, Belgium.

The steering committee of EAGLES was held in Brussels on 29 January 2003 in conjunction with the conference organised by the European Group on Life Sciences, “Towards sustainable agriculture for developing countries: options from life sciences and biotechnologies”, 30-31 January 2003.