Ontology engineering

© 2010 Nature America, Inc. All rights reserved.NEWSin briefIrish bioethics council axedStem cell research in Ireland has been throwninto a state of confusion, after a recentgovernment decision to cut all funding for theIrish Council for bioethics at the end of theyear. Paradoxically, the move coincides with arecent Supreme Court decision that removessome of the legal uncertainties surroundinghuman embryonic stem cell research in thecountry. The judges denied a woman the rightto proceed with in vitro fertilization without theconsent of her estranged husband. In doing so,the court ruled that embryos outside the wombare not protected by the country’s constitutionalprotection of the unborn. Although this rulingaffects human embryonic stem cell (hESC)research by providing clarification on the statusof pre-implanted embryos, scientists remain waryof proceeding until a supporting framework isin place. “I’m going to behave responsibly. It’sgoing to be done by the book,” says Barry Mooreat University College Cork (UCC), who has alreadyreceived clearance to carry out hESC researchfrom UCC’s research ethics committee. Irelandhas no laws governing human stem cell researchand scientists have been operating in a legallimbo. “The lack of an independent bioethicsboard will have serious repercussions for howIreland is seen as a hub for medical research,and that will have to be addressed as a matterof urgency,” says scientific director StephenSullivan of the newly formed Irish Stem CellFoundation, which is calling on the governmentto reinstate the council. Cormac SheridanAmgen trumps RocheA 5-year patent dispute between Roche andAmgen over the anti-anemia drug Mircera(methoxy polyethylene glycolepoetin beta) hasended. Roche of Basel acknowledged in courtthat Mircera, its pegylated-erythropoietin,infringed on Amgen’s erythropoietin patent andwould drop its challenges. The ruling ensuresthat Mircera sales are barred and Roche iskept out of the US market until mid-2014,when Amgen’s patents expire. Amgen currentlydominates the US market with erythropoiesisstimulatingagents (ESAs)—Epogen (epoetinalfa) and Aranesp (darbepoetin alfa)—whichtogether generated $5.6 billion in sales lastyear. However, Thousand Oaks, California–basedAmgen may now have to contend with US Foodand Drug Administration (FDA) regulations, asa panel of outside experts expected to meetin 2010 will re-examine safety concerns overESAs (Nat. Biotechnol. 25, 607–608, 2007).Writing in January in the New England Journalof Medicine (doi:10.1056/NEJMp0912328),FDA officials are urging proper dosing of ESAsin individuals with chronic kidney disease, ascertain regimens appear to increase the risk ofcardiovascular events and death. The panel mayimpose regulations on the ESA market or decidethat additional clinical trials are needed. Theoutcome of this meeting, says Eric Schmidt, abiotech analyst at Cowen and Company in NewYork, is that it may bring down sales, as drugcompanies may no longer be allowed to pushhigh-dose regimens.Nazlie LatefiReport blames GM crops for herbicide spike,downplays pesticide reductionsA recent report published by the OrganicCenter, an organic farming advocacy organizationheadquartered in Foster, RhodeIsland, claims that the use of herbicides inweed control has risen sharply since transgeniccrops’ commercial introduction in1996. Increasing cultivation of glyphosate(N-phosphonomethyl glycine)-tolerant transgeniccrops, particularly soybean, has led toan aggregate increase in herbicide use of 383million pounds over the past 13 years, on topof what the Organic Center’s chief scientistCharles Benbrook models suggest would havebeen applied had the technology never beendeployed (http://www.organic-center.org/science.pest.php?action=view&report_id=159).The report also downplayed that transgeniccorn and cotton have delivered reductions ininsecticide use totaling 64.2 million poundsover the same time period.The report’s findings on herbicides are instark contrast to the standard agrochemicalindustry line that transgenic crops have reducedthe chemical load on the environment. Severalcritics have questioned the assumptions underlyingthe analysis and any significance that canbe drawn from it, particularly as the reportcomes from an advocacy group seeking to“communicate the verifiable benefits of organicfarming and products to society.”Rising glyphosate resistance is a plausibleexplanation for the increasing use of herbicides,however. Among plant scientists, thereis little disagreement on the problem of glyphosate-resistantweeds. “It certainly is fairto point out the failure in glyphosate stewardship,that the threat of resistance wasn’tappreciated, that more diverse managementwasn’t used to try to prevent or delay resistanceemerging,” says Chris Boerboom,extension weed scientist at the University ofWisconsin in Madison.The issue of herbicide resistance hasalready become acute in some US states.Report author Benbrook claims that thecotton and soy industries in the Southeastare on “the brink of collapse” because ofthe cost of dealing with glyphosate-resistantweeds. Benbrook goes on to argue thatincreasing reliance on herbicides pairedwith more expensive, engineered tolerancetraits will erode farmers’ profitability, whilecompounding environmental and publichealth risks (through increased chemicalexposure).The report’s other main finding—thatinsect-resistant transgenic crops havehelped cut pesticide use—was downplayedby Benbrook, who claims the increase in thevolume of herbicides applied “swamps” theCrop spraying on the up. Glyphosate-resistant weeds may be driving an increased reliance onherbicide use.Greg Gardnes/istockphoto112 volume 28 number 2 february 2010 nature biotechnology