Agricultural biotechnology and the pulbic good

Biopiracy refers to the development of new biotechnologies based on genetic material and informal innovation of the southern hemisphere when it does not benefit the original owners of the genetic materials and processes. To counteract this, the notion of intellectual property rights over living materials needs broad societal review. Intellectual property laws are designed to promote innovation, but are failing to protect the control of biological products and processes. Patents are important marketing tools for biotechnology firms, but they may be stifling the free flow of information and genetic. The principle of farmers’ rights should be strengthened and implemented as a protocol to the Biodiversity Convention

Private Sector Agricultural Research: Research Priorities of Agribusiness and How They Are Changing Farmers’ Lives

Introduction Unfortunately, the crisis in agricultural research is little known or understood outside of a small circle of international development agencies, civil society organizations, and agricultural institutions. The fact that agricultural research is not headline news makes it an especially important topic for World Food Day. The crisis affects everyone – North and South, rich and poor – whether we realize it or not. Why does agricultural research matter? Why should we care that invest..

Private Sector Agricultural Research: Research Priorities of Agribusiness and How They Are Changing Farmers’ Lives

Introduction Unfortunately, the crisis in agricultural research is little known or understood outside of a small circle of international development agencies, civil society organizations, and agricultural institutions. The fact that agricultural research is not headline news makes it an especially important topic for World Food Day. The crisis affects everyone – North and South, rich and poor – whether we realize it or not. Why does agricultural research matter? Why should we care that invest..

Private Sector Agricultural Research: Research Priorities of Agribusiness and How They Are Changing Farmers’ Lives

Introduction Unfortunately, the crisis in agricultural research is little known or understood outside of a small circle of international development agencies, civil society organizations, and agricultural institutions. The fact that agricultural research is not headline news makes it an especially important topic for World Food Day. The crisis affects everyone – North and South, rich and poor – whether we realize it or not. Why does agricultural research matter? Why should we care that invest..

Professor W Mike Edmunds: a pioneer in applied hydrogeochemistry and champion of international collaboration

Mike Edmunds was a pioneer in modern applied hydrogeochemistry, helping to develop geochemical tools and their application to managing water resources. In a career span- ning almost 50 years, Mike made major contributions to water resource science as well as pro moting the role of chemistry in solving groundwater problems and championing the need to incorporate science into policy. There can be few hydrogeologists who travelled so extensively in order to study the vast range of groundwater environments of the world. Mike ’ s contribution to water scie nce was recognised through the many accolades he received including the Whitaker Medal in 1999, the O.E. Meinzer Award in 2009, and the Vernadsky Medal in 2010

Standard set of health outcome measures for older persons

Background: The International Consortium for Health Outcomes Measurement (ICHOM) was founded in 2012 to propose consensus-based measurement tools and documentation for different conditions and populations.This article describes how the ICHOM Older Person Working Group followed a consensus-driven modified Delphi technique to develop multiple global outcome measures in older persons. The standard set of outcome measures developed by this group will support the ability of healthcare systems to improve their care pathways and quality of care. An additional benefit will be the opportunity to compare variations in outcomes which encourages and supports learning between different health care systems that drives quality improvement. These outcome measures were not developed for use in research. They are aimed at non researchers in healthcare provision and those who pay for these services. Methods: A modified Delphi technique utilising a value based healthcare framework was applied by an international panel to arrive at consensus decisions.To inform the panel meetings, information was sought from literature reviews, longitudinal ageing surveys and a focus group. Results: The outcome measures developed and recommended were participation in decision making, autonomy and control, mood and emotional health, loneliness and isolation, pain, activities of daily living, frailty, time spent in hospital, overall survival, carer burden, polypharmacy, falls and place of death mapped to a three tier value based healthcare framework. Conclusions: The first global health standard set of outcome measures in older persons has been developed to enable health care systems improve the quality of care provided to older persons

Seeding New Technologies to Fuel Old Injustices

Silvia Ribeiro and Hope Shand argue that the techno-fixes that are propping up the agro-industrial farming system are reinforcing the very institutions and policies that are the root causes of today's food crisis. Development (2008) 51, 496–503. doi:10.1057/dev.2008.53

Trends in Intellectual Property and Nanotechnology: Implications

111-117The race is on to win exclusive monopoly patents on nano-scale materials, devices and processes. The US National Science Foundation predicts that the immensely broad power and scope of nano-scale technologies will revolutionize manufacturing across all industry sectors – capturing a $1 trillion market within six or seven years. Although industry analysts assert that nanotech is in its infancy, patent thickets on fundamental nano-scale materials, tools and processes are already creating thorny barriers for would-be innovators. Industry analysts warn that, ‘IP roadblocks could severely retard the development of nanotechnology.’¹ After a decade of confusion and controversy over biotech patents, South governments are now facing a newer, bigger technology wave. By 1 July 2013 even ‘least developed’ countries will be obligated by the World Trade Organization’s Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPS) to accommodate nanotechnology-related inventions. Despite rosy predictions that nanotech will provide a technical fix for health, sustainable energy and environmental security in the South, researchers in the developing world are likely to find that participation in the proprietary ‘nanotech revolution’ is highly restricted by patent tollbooths, obliging them to pay royalities and licensing fees to gain access

Professor W Mike Edmunds: a pioneer in applied hydrogeochemistry and champion of international collaboration

Mike Edmunds was a pioneer in modern applied hydrogeochemistry, helping to develop geochemical tools and their application to managing water resources. In a career spanning almost 50 years, Mike made major contributions to water resource science as well as promoting the role of chemistry in solving groundwater problems and championing the need to incorporate science into policy. There can be few hydrogeologists who travelled so extensively in order to study the vast range of groundwater environments of the world. Mike’s contribution to water science was recognised through the many accolades he received including the Whitaker Medal in 1999, the O.E. Meinzer Award in 2009, and the Vernadsky Medal in 2010. Perhaps his greatest contribution, however, was the generosity of spirit with which he approached his many collaborative ventures