Miracle or menace? : biotechnology and the third world / by Robert Walgate.
- Walgate, Robert
- Date:
- [1990]
Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)
Credit: Miracle or menace? : biotechnology and the third world / by Robert Walgate. Source: Wellcome Collection.
186/212 page 176
![176 Miracle or menaceì dangerous condition of smallpox, but would have to be reassessed for other diseases. Second, in wide-scale use, vaccinia might (the risk must be assessed) mutate to a smallpox form. If if did so mutate, now that smallpox has gone and youngsters are not vaccinated, an epidemic could arise. Vaccinia vaccine proponents says the latter risk is very small and the former risk negligible and both are far outweighed by the potential benefits of the effective delivery of a vaccine, say, against malaria. But both risks clearly need independent assessment. n informal UNIDO/WHO/UNEP working group on biotechnological safety established in 1985-6 has been attending to issues of special interest to the developing countries in the release of genetically engineered organisms [5]. Individual UN organisations have also been developing their own guidelines, such as WHO's for the manufacture and preparation of vaccines in developing countries, or UNIDO's for the research work of its International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology in Trieste and New Delhi. Hamdallah Zedan of UNEP argues that, although genetic engineering has been in full swing in laboratories for over a decade, the fact that no single health incident has been reported [at least, none has been proven]... could be attributed to the guidelines developed at that time. The guidelines — resulting from scientists warning of possible dangers — led to strict controls and containment of experiments. But as none of the vaunted dangers materialised, the guidelines have been relaxed. At present, the general pattern in developing countries is that a group of scientists — without public representation — is defining regulations, leaving the system open to potential bias. The most widely quoted existing basis for the international regulation of biotechnology is the report, Recombinant DNA safety considerations [6] published by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (which is effectively the rich nations' think-tank, and is most concerned about problems affecting those nations). Nevertheless, on the scientific questions, the OECD advice can be taken as universal. On the release of genetically engineered organisms, a relatively novel issue in 1986, the OECD recommended: INTERNATIONAL REGULATIONS • An independent review of the potential risks of any proposed](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b18035644_0187.JP2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
