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EAGLES address members of the European Parliament
EAGLES address members of the European Parliament
European Action on Global Life Sciences (EAGLES) is an initiative of the European Federation of Biotechnology supported by the European Commission.
Brussels, 11/10/2006 – On October 11, the European Action on Global Life Sciences (EAGLES) organised a dinner debate in Brussels with about 40 participants from the European Parliament, the European Commission and EAGLES. The background for the meeting was the lack of clear dedication and focus in the 7th Framework Programme on the great humanitarian challenges of hunger, illness and environmental degradation which plague the developing countries.
A better dialogue is needed, and EAGLES –an initiative of the European Federation of Biotechnology supported by the European Commission- is a platform for achieving this dialogue between scientists from the developing countries and European politicians, policy makers, members of the media and other leaders of public opinion. The meeting was initiated by MEP Britta Thomsen, who also introduced the three speakers and chaired the discussion.
EAGLES Chair Dr. Ismail Serageldin, Director of the Library of Alexandria, gave an enlightening vision of the role of research in the fight against poverty, fundamentalism and isolationism, backed by a historical review of the trends in life sciences over the last 50 years. As an example on how important research and know-how can be, he mentioned India which in the early 1960s was deemed by many economists and development experts not to be able to feed its population of then less than 300 million people. Today the size of the Indian population has increased three times and India is a major food exporter in Asia. Dr. Serageldin suggested that knowledge was a key factor in development and knowledge should be considered a global public good – a human right. With knowledge, research and education we can abolish hunger and poverty related disease and Europe has an obligation to share its knowledge with the developing world.
EAGLES Co-Vice Chairman Prof. Huanming Yang, Director of the Beijing Genome Institute, who contributed to the Human Genome Project and led the Chinese rice genome initiative, referred to his own early experience with European scientists in Denmark where he spent several years pursuing his PhD. He advocated for assistance to emerging and developing countries not in the form of food aid, but by supporting knowledge and technology generation. He underscored that all life sciences are related, and that life sciences are, literally speaking, vital for the future and stability of the
world. Trust built on research collaboration is the key which will also lead to mutual benefits. He advised Europe to place much more emphasis on its status as a continent of many countries in harmony, and as a society built on knowledge and partnership.
World Health representative Dr. Gojka Roglic was the last speaker. Her presentation was a follow up from the recent EAGLES Symposium in Alexandria (April 2006), on the emerging epidemics of diabetes and other chronic diseases in the developing world. Dr. Roglic demonstrated that diabetes is exploding in the developing world, and she went through the ten most common misconceptions about diabetes and its complications: Diabetes is not a disease of the wealthy - 80% is in the low or middle income countries. It mainly affects poor people. It is not a disease of the old. It affects men and women equally. It is not only a problem of choice of life style. It can be prevented, and prevention does not need to be expensive. You have to die from something, but it does not have to be premature after a slow, painful and chronic disease like diabetes.
After each presentation and during the final debate a number of prominent MEP’s and officers from the European Commission commented on the presentations and discussed the main issue: that the draft of the European Commission’s 7th Framework Programme (FP7) is not taking sufficient account of the problems of the developing world and there lacks a dedicated programme or framework for collaboration with the developing world. The final discussion had a very positive atmosphere with many interventions from parliamentarians who are playing a key role in the development of the research budget of FP7.
It was suggested by EAGLES that there should be a 5% budget target for research relevant to the developing world. MEP Theresa Riera had already suggested a target in the Parliament but did not get sufficient support.
If the Commission developed a mechanism in FP7 for measuring research and research training and collaboration with the developing world this mechanism could give an important indication on how the coming policy of “open collaboration but no dedicated budget would go”. Such an indicator could be important for the decision makers and could be used for putting more focus on the development issue.
A hearing in the Parliament or a Parliament Global Science Day, which would focus attention on the role of European science in the developing world, was suggested. Both MEP’s and members of the European Commission asked for more active debate and more lobby activities on this issue organised
by the research community.
EAGLES Co-Vice Chairman Prof. David McConnell summed up the meeting and promised to follow up on the different comments and suggestions. Britta Thomsen thanked the participants for a very fruitful debate.
For additional information about EAGLES, please contact:
Jens Degett, Executive Director of EAGLES
jdegett@jubii.dk
Hernani 68, 6B
28020 Madrid, Spain
Tel.: +34 91 220 3157
Skype Name: jensdegett
EAGLES Website: http://www.efb-central.org/eagles/