PDF file: Annual Report 2002/2003 - Scottish Crop Research Institute

Director’s Report
Intellectual property issues were central to book publishing.
In March 2002, the digital copyright treaty
formulated by the World Intellectual Property
Organisation, came into force, supplementing the
Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and
Artistic Works, as revised in 1971. Within the EU,
member states grappled hesitantly with the application
of value-added tax (VAT) to imported digital
products such as e-books, the abolition of resale price
maintenance, payments relating to public lending
rights, the rate of VAT applied to books, and the legal
relationship between authors and publishers.
EU Research G. Schatz in Jeff’s View. Networks,
Fretworks, FEBS Letters 553, 1-2, 2003, amusingly
pointed out the deficiencies of the European Research
Area, and the inability of the EU to replace the USA
and become the world’s most competitive and dynamic
knowledge-based economy. Despite matching the
USA in scientific output, the EU is inferior in generating
innovation. Europe suffers from serious misconceptions
about how science functions, the degree to
which it can be planned and regulated, and the way in
which coordination, cooperation, and evaluation override
scientific leadership. This is illustrated by
enforced networks, micromanagement to provide
accountability and avoid risk, phenomenal levels of
bureaucracy, and the absence of leading scientists
from shaping EU research policies. Dr Schatz cited
Lord Ernest Rutherford’s dictum “It is essential for
men of science to take an interest in the administration
of their own affairs or else the professional civil
servant will step in – and then the Lord help you”.
AIDS Agriculturally dependent economies of the lessdeveloped
countries (LDCs; countries defined by the
World Bank in World Development Report 2003 as
having a gross national product in 2001 of less than
$9,205 per capita) have been severely affected by the
acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) pandemic.
By 2002, over 40 million people worldwide
were infected by the disease, and new infections were
reported to be 15,000 per day. In sub-Saharan Africa,
more than 20% of adults were infected with human
immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and average life
expectancy was less than 40 years. The US National
Intelligence Council reported that by 2010, there
would be between 50 million to 75 million AIDS
cases in China, Ethiopia, India, Nigeria, and Russia.
Guidelines were issued by the World Health
Organisation (WHO) for minimal acceptable laboratory
tests for diagnosing HIV infection and monitoring
treatment regimes. Discussions took place with
major pharmaceutical companies on the release of
intellectual property and drug cocktails to treat
patients in LDCs, with agreement between the parties
reached by early 2003.
SARS Outbreaks of severe acute respiratory syndrome
(SARS) in early 2003, a disease thought to
have originated in southern China, raised questions
about the emergence of new infectious agents, methods
of control and detection, and the roles of long-distance
travel, population growth, and genetic
variability in both the host and agent. SARS spread to
29 countries, infected more than 8,000 people, killed
774 people, and was responsible for a partial collapse
of the global tourism and business travel industry.
The global cost was calculated by economists from the
Australian National University at between £22 billion
and £80 billion.
Diets In food-secure countries, the incidence of cardiovascular
disease, diabetes, and obesity provided a
fresh impetus to understand and optimise diets. Fastfood
chains were beginning to attract litigation and
industries associated with the production and retailing
of starch-based foods were adversely affected by the
impact of the Atkins Diet. The composition of foodstuffs
and concepts of ‘healthy’ diets were being reinvestigated
in the light of discoveries about variations
in the human genome, leading to the concept and
area of study referred to as nutrigenomics. Plant
genome - human genome interactions are now a
viable area of study, aided both by transgenic technology
to modify precisely plant compositions, and by
more sophisticated understanding of pharmacogenomics.
Several groups raised ethical questions about
access to individual’s genetic data, types of market
testing, and global access to knowledge, activities that
perhaps should remain confidential. The WHO recommended
governments to consider using taxes to
dissuade people from eating too much sugar, fats, and
salt in order to curtail the impacts of poor diets on
obesity.
Education Standardised achievement tests to judge
the proficiency of schoolchildren were a common feature
of many of the MDCs in 2002. Such tests were
criticised as ponderous, costly, and likely to lead to the
neglect of non-examined but essential parts of the curriculum.
Centrally set performance indicators for
schools and teachers were beginning to be introduced.
Other issues included relatively poor pay for teachers,
the educational background and competencies of
teachers, drug-testing of pupils, discipline, truancy,
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