'Biotech. corridor' planned in Bangalore

By Our Staff Reporter

BANGALORE, DEC. 22. The State Government plans to make the stretch from Mekhri Circle to GKVK campus here a "biotechnology corridor", Mr. A. Krishnappa, Minister for Animal Husbandry and Sugar, said on Friday.

Inaugurating the two-day annual conference of the Indian Academy of Vaccinology and Immunobiology (IAVI) here, he said the corridor would be the hub of activities related to biotechnology.

Mr. Krishnappa said contagious diseases were claiming many lives. Of the 50 million deaths recorded in the world every year, about 25 millions were due to contagious diseases, he added.

He said that in the Indian sub-continent, Sri Lanka had the lowest incidence of mortality and morbidity caused by contagious diseases. This was because it had used simple strategies for the prevention of diseases, such as providing pure drinking water and ensuring hygiene, he added.

"Even in our country, practices such as providing safe drinking water and effective sewage disposal can drastically bring down the incidence of contagious diseases. This should be the top priority in our country in the new millennium," he said. He also felt that there was need for concerted efforts to initiate diagnostic measures to control and eradicate the new diseases.

Dr. Suhasini V. Reddy, President of the IAVI, said prevention was better than cure. Pointing out that vaccine was important in the fight against infectious diseases, she said: "We are on the way to producing third-generation vaccines. Now, cheaper and effective vaccines are being produced." Advocating the usefulness of "combination vaccine", she said it had the potential to reduce the cost of immunisation.

Immunodiagnostics was playing a big role, Dr. Reddy said. "Research has given us rapid screening tests, and we can get results in a couple of hours and not in two days as earlier." The vaccines were tested on animals before they were released, she pointed out.

Dr. G.V. Nagaraj, Director, Health and Family Welfare, said vaccinology and immunobiology were facing challenges. Incidence of malaria had been reported once again because of the technical problems in implementing the disease control programmes and also lack of funds, he added.

Delivering the keynote address, Prof. Talwar, Research Director, Talwar Research Foundation, urged the Government and the industry to improve vaccines and discard those that were toxic.

Dr. Keshavamurthy, veterinarian microbiologist, and Dr. A.K. Thomas were felicitated. Mr. Sudhir Kant, President of Millipore India Pvt. Ltd., the sponsors of the conference, and Dr. R.N. Srinivas Gowda, Director, Institute of Animal Health and Veterinary Biologicals, were present.

An exhibition displaying the latest instruments and explaining techniques was inaugurated.

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