Southern States - Andhra Pradesh

CM reiterates commitment to boost biotechnology

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD May 2. Observing that the "last decade belonged to IT (Information Technology), and this decade belongs to Biotechnology (BT)'', the Chief Minister, N. Chandrababu Naidu, has said that after years of painstaking research and development, "commercialisation'' of this frontier technology for the betterment of mankind was poised to grow exponentially.

He was addressing scientists and entrepreneurs at a three-day International Conference here on Thursday on "Emerging Trends in Biotechnology: Stem Cell-Technology, Potential and Trends'', organised by the All India Biotech Association, Southern Chapter (AIBA-SC), jointly with the State Government and several other institutions.

Mr. Naidu said biotechnology could help introduce new products and processes to give a `competitive edge' over traditional ones in terms of effectiveness, productivity, cost and safety. It could help increase yields dramatically, lower labour costs and agricultural inputs, improve nutritional value of food crops, and produce environmentally benign weed and insect pest management.

Reiterating his commitment to make Hyderabad the `Biotechnology Capital', he said the response had been excellent and pointed out that "Five of the six biotechnology products launched in India are from Hyderabad.''

Observing that 35 industries which were into BT had come up in and around Hyderabad, he felt `The confluence of IT and BT has happened in A.P.'. The Government had initiated several measures to attract biotechnology activity into Hyderabad. This included setting up of the ICICI Knowledge Park, the adjacent Biotechnology Park and development of the Genome Valley over an area of 600 sq km. An Institute of Life sciences was also being set up at the University of Hyderabad campus.

While Stem Cell research was the hottest subject of research in biotechnology, he agreed that research on `human embryonic stem cells' was controversial in terms of moral and ethical issues.

Dr. Martin J. Evans, Director, Cardiff School of Bioscience, Cardiff University, (London), said the real problem was moving from experimental to practical application. Dr. Evans,who is well known for his work on embryonic stem cells in mice, said now work was being done on human beings. In UK, three changes were made in regulations, and it was now allowed to work on human embryo cell under licence.

The Minister for Major Industries, K. Vidyadhar Rao, said biotechnology offers tremendous opportunity for growth and development of mankind. Research of stem cell offers potential for developing therapies for debilitating diseases. He was hopeful that the conference would help scientists and entrepreneurship to come together to set up projects in Andhra Pradesh.

Dr. B. S. Bajaj, Chairman, AIBA-SC, said medical experts, scientists and entrepreneurs were involved in the three-day conference.

He spoke appreciatively of the State Government's efforts to make Hyderabad a centre for biotechnology activity. Dr. Krishna Ella of the AIBA-SC spoke.

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