Cuba's Bio-ethics: What Carter May Learn Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit source - Karen Wald [Juventud Rebelde, May 12, 2002Since the Bush administration made the = question of biological warfare a new issue in its battle with Cuba, just prior to Carter's trip there, this interview in Cuba's afternoon = newspaper Juventud Rebelde is especially important. Thanks to Ellen Rosenzweig for this quick translation.--KW] Juventud Rebelde - May 12, 2002 In Cuba, Science has Ethics Flor de Paz "As a matter of ethics, we reject any element related to terrorism, in any of its forms," Dr. Luis Herrera, director of the Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology Center (CIGB), said yesterday in a press conference he gave along with other colleagues and executives of the institutions belonging to the Western Havana Scientific Complex. Herrera stated at the press conference that just as the Cuban scientific community does not sanction the cloning of human beings, the exploitation of one person by another, or racism, neither is terrorism among its forms of action. "And if someone does not understand the validity of these ethical considerations, because he or she has already erased those principles from their mode of behavior, then he or she should realize that in Cuba we don't have the infrastructure to involve ourselves in biological warfare." According to the CIGB director, in order to have a base of production for armaments of that kind, a country must have very expensive containment systems, costing hundreds of millions of dollars, and "this country does not have that kind of money. "Besides, it would be absurd for us to dig our own graves by providing justification for being attacked and blockaded, when [the biotechnology] sector is becoming one of the most promising for the national economy." Herrera added that on Monday, May 13, former President Carter will visit the CIGB, "the center that they have alleged is for bioterrorism, and he will be able to be in any area he wants, as hundreds of U.S. scientists have done on other occasions." Responding to the false accusation that Cuba transfers fermentation technology to other countries, and in that way transfers biological armaments, the Cuban scientist said that no one has accused England of such a thing, and nevertheless it systematically offers a course on fermentations that costs $4,550 USD. "Those courses impart much more knowledge about those technologies than we have transmitted. In other words, only someone with bad intentions or without information could believe such lies." Among Cuban biotechnology's priority objectives, the specialist highlighted the effective incorporation of technologies such as bioinformatics, proteomics, genomics and nanotechnology, which are in their initial phases. He also mentioned the follow-up on discoveries of new pharmaceuticals for combating human and plant diseases. "As for genomes, for example, we are studying the Cuban population, which is composed of two basic groups of origin: Caucasian or European, and African or black. "The identification of genes linked to diseases, given a greater frequency in one ethnic group or the other, will allow us to shape therapies, among other possibilities. "Another group of projects is oriented toward the development of cancer and HIV vaccines, as well as research in the field of molecular neuroepidemiology. We are also working on cloning bovines, as a way of introducing pharmaceuticals into the milk of those mammals." BIOTECHNOLOGY IN CUBA IS A SYSTEM Cuban biotechnology was born with the effort to obtain interferon to fight the 1981 dengue epidemic, and today it is a system that has been extended throughout the country. "The Western Havana Scientific Complex alone currently has 45 scientific centers, control centers, clinical hospitals and universities," explained Dr. Concepci=F3n Campa, director of the Finlay Institute, where the meningitis B vaccine was created. Dr. Campa explained that the country's biotechnology system is based on three fundamental pillars: the priority assigned to it by the state; its considerable amount of valuable human resources; and the existing collaboration among related centers. "This last element, rather than competition and rivalry, makes it possible to reduce the time in which our products are completed. "This spirit of cooperation also makes it easier for us to find true volunteers for clinical trials, people who believe in Cuba's scientific efforts and are able to understand the objectives of our work," she commented. Among the other participants in the press conference was Jos=E9 Luis Fern=E1ndez Yero, director of the Immunoassay Center, specializing in the development of precise molecular diagnostic techniques. Answering a journalist's question about Cuba's preparedness for facing a biological attack - and it is possible that the real motive behind the recent false accusations is to gain knowledge about that preparedness - Dr. Yero noted, "the first level of defense is our health care system. "We also have 167 laboratories established throughout the country, so that we can make precise diagnoses, with Cuban equipment. They are prepared to identify pathologies present in our territory, as well as others that may enter." (c) Juventud Rebelde / 2002 ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytenv-05.14.02-04:10:45-12560