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Netherlands: Herman's babies
43
Working Group on Patent Laws, a think-tank of intellectual-property experts spearheading the anti-Dunkel movement, argues that "most developed countries have been through the same phase in their earlier stages of development. If what we are doing today was okay for them in their earlier stage of development, why is it not okay for us now?" "Instead of developing self-reliance, Dunkel opens the way for unlimited control of developing countries by transnational corporations", he adds. The Government’s position is viewed as being ambiguous and compromising. A delay in concluding the round in Geneva because of differences among developed countries may act only as a breather for developing countries. The crescendo of discontent in India against a supranational GATT rule is likely to rise, notwithstanding the Government’s disposition. Sanjay Kumar National
Netherlands: Herman’s babies Parliament has given permission for Herman to be a father, but only his daughters will be allowed to survive, sons and second-generation offspring will not. Herman is the world’s first transgenic bull. He belongs to Gene Pharming in Leiden and possesses a modified version of the human gene for lactoferrin. Most Christian Democrats and Socialists voted in favour of enabling further experiments on grounds that there is no alternative as yet for the costly lactoferrin that transgenic cows should be able to produce. The Liberals, Greens, and two Orthodox Christian parties strongly opposed further experiments. So did the Dutch Animal Protection Association, which argued that "animals are not small chemical factories but individuals with a sense of their own dignity", that alternatives have not seriously been explored, and that the Ministry of Public Health should assess the effectiveness of the promised protein against alternative products. Gene Pharming’s scientific director Dr de Boer insists that the gene would affect only the milk, not the animal’s physiology. Parliament took a long time to decide to allow Herman to breed because of concern about implications for future genetic manipulation of animals. The decision was arrived at after agriculture minister Piet Bukman received the green light from the ethics commission that he set up to advise him on the bull’s future; three of the eight commission members oppose permitting Herman to breed. In November the European Parliament approved a draft directive on patenting biotechnical inventions. The original draft would have given Gene Pharming a patent on Herman, on his extra gene, and on his offspring, but the proposed directive has been amended such that farmers need pay royalties on a patented gene only once, not each time it is passed on to an offspring. How the draft directive’s prohibition of the patenting of human parts (see Lancet Nov 7,1992, p 1152) will affect Herman’s extra (human) gene is not clear. Neither is how patents to do with Herman will be viewed by the European Patent Office (which administers the European Patent Convention, which covers more than just EC countries). Gene Pharming had "created" Herman in 1990 after experimenting with 2000 embryos but had hoped that the fetus would have turned out to be a "she". Now, Herman has to produce daughters before the effect of the extra gene can be assessed. Believing that good production of
lactoferrin would improve protection against bovine mastitis, the Ministry of Economic Affairs had donated 3 million guilders towards the creation of transgenic cows. Potential buyers have shown little interest in any possible mastitis-protecting property of lactoferrin, so Gene Pharming is promoting its product as a help in the fight against infections (such as enteritis) in man.
Marjanke Spanjer
Hungary: A new public
health
Against a background of major health challenges, the public health service is undergoing a reassessment of its role and functions. The Public Health Act that became law in March, 1991, removed the network of "san-epid" stations (local hygiene and sanitary services) from local authority control and placed them under the control of the Ministry of Welfare, in a hierarchical system with tiers at national, county, and municipal level. In addition, the public health service was given many new responsibilities, including the monitoring and evaluating of the health of the population. This reorganisation represents a major departure from activities based on the traditional concept of hygiene. The emerging paradigm of a "new public health" in western Europe and North America has yet to penetrate the layers of this system. But there are now encouraging signs. The Hungarian Society of Public Health Sciences, founded last year, has held an American NIH-style national consensus conference in Debrecen to discuss What is Public Health (for Hungary in the 1990s)? The meeting was attended by almost 200 Hungarians with an interest in public health from academic, health service, and political spheres, and an invited group of public health physicians from other eastern and western European countries. The western participants were all members of a consortium funded by the European Community TEMPUS programme to help develop education for a new public health in Hungary. After much semantic and ideological debate a definition was agreed. The English translation would be: "Public health involves multidisciplinary and intersectoral approaches and practice. Its goals are promoting health, preventing disease, and prolonging life of good quality. These are implemented through the organised efforts and efficient use of the material and intellectual resources of society and through individual initiatives. Public health relates to the health problems of populations and its practice has a scientific basis". Two factors were striking: commonality of views among the western participants; and a sharp division among the Hungarians. Those making the conceptual leap to the "new public health" seemed to come predominantly from academic and political spheres, whereas some of those from the public health services seemed to be clinging onto the remnants of an increasingly unfashionable system. There were other areas where the legacy of the past 40 years ran deep-in particular, the importance of individual rights in relation to the common good, which required a specific amendment to the definition. The concept of "healthy public policy", now a prominent element of a new public health, clearly holds understandable fears for those who have lived in a society where forms of social control have, for too long, denied very fundamental human rights. Agreeing new boundaries to the divide between individual freedom and the greater good of
Working Group on Patent Laws, a think-tank of intellectual-property experts spearheading the anti-Dunkel movement, argues that "most developed countries have been through the same phase in their earlier stages of development. If what we are doing today was okay for them in their earlier stage of development, why is it not okay for us now?" "Instead of developing self-reliance, Dunkel opens the way for unlimited control of developing countries by transnational corporations", he adds. The Government’s position is viewed as being ambiguous and compromising. A delay in concluding the round in Geneva because of differences among developed countries may act only as a breather for developing countries. The crescendo of discontent in India against a supranational GATT rule is likely to rise, notwithstanding the Government’s disposition. Sanjay Kumar National
Netherlands: Herman’s babies Parliament has given permission for Herman to be a father, but only his daughters will be allowed to survive, sons and second-generation offspring will not. Herman is the world’s first transgenic bull. He belongs to Gene Pharming in Leiden and possesses a modified version of the human gene for lactoferrin. Most Christian Democrats and Socialists voted in favour of enabling further experiments on grounds that there is no alternative as yet for the costly lactoferrin that transgenic cows should be able to produce. The Liberals, Greens, and two Orthodox Christian parties strongly opposed further experiments. So did the Dutch Animal Protection Association, which argued that "animals are not small chemical factories but individuals with a sense of their own dignity", that alternatives have not seriously been explored, and that the Ministry of Public Health should assess the effectiveness of the promised protein against alternative products. Gene Pharming’s scientific director Dr de Boer insists that the gene would affect only the milk, not the animal’s physiology. Parliament took a long time to decide to allow Herman to breed because of concern about implications for future genetic manipulation of animals. The decision was arrived at after agriculture minister Piet Bukman received the green light from the ethics commission that he set up to advise him on the bull’s future; three of the eight commission members oppose permitting Herman to breed. In November the European Parliament approved a draft directive on patenting biotechnical inventions. The original draft would have given Gene Pharming a patent on Herman, on his extra gene, and on his offspring, but the proposed directive has been amended such that farmers need pay royalties on a patented gene only once, not each time it is passed on to an offspring. How the draft directive’s prohibition of the patenting of human parts (see Lancet Nov 7,1992, p 1152) will affect Herman’s extra (human) gene is not clear. Neither is how patents to do with Herman will be viewed by the European Patent Office (which administers the European Patent Convention, which covers more than just EC countries). Gene Pharming had "created" Herman in 1990 after experimenting with 2000 embryos but had hoped that the fetus would have turned out to be a "she". Now, Herman has to produce daughters before the effect of the extra gene can be assessed. Believing that good production of
lactoferrin would improve protection against bovine mastitis, the Ministry of Economic Affairs had donated 3 million guilders towards the creation of transgenic cows. Potential buyers have shown little interest in any possible mastitis-protecting property of lactoferrin, so Gene Pharming is promoting its product as a help in the fight against infections (such as enteritis) in man.
Marjanke Spanjer
Hungary: A new public
health
Against a background of major health challenges, the public health service is undergoing a reassessment of its role and functions. The Public Health Act that became law in March, 1991, removed the network of "san-epid" stations (local hygiene and sanitary services) from local authority control and placed them under the control of the Ministry of Welfare, in a hierarchical system with tiers at national, county, and municipal level. In addition, the public health service was given many new responsibilities, including the monitoring and evaluating of the health of the population. This reorganisation represents a major departure from activities based on the traditional concept of hygiene. The emerging paradigm of a "new public health" in western Europe and North America has yet to penetrate the layers of this system. But there are now encouraging signs. The Hungarian Society of Public Health Sciences, founded last year, has held an American NIH-style national consensus conference in Debrecen to discuss What is Public Health (for Hungary in the 1990s)? The meeting was attended by almost 200 Hungarians with an interest in public health from academic, health service, and political spheres, and an invited group of public health physicians from other eastern and western European countries. The western participants were all members of a consortium funded by the European Community TEMPUS programme to help develop education for a new public health in Hungary. After much semantic and ideological debate a definition was agreed. The English translation would be: "Public health involves multidisciplinary and intersectoral approaches and practice. Its goals are promoting health, preventing disease, and prolonging life of good quality. These are implemented through the organised efforts and efficient use of the material and intellectual resources of society and through individual initiatives. Public health relates to the health problems of populations and its practice has a scientific basis". Two factors were striking: commonality of views among the western participants; and a sharp division among the Hungarians. Those making the conceptual leap to the "new public health" seemed to come predominantly from academic and political spheres, whereas some of those from the public health services seemed to be clinging onto the remnants of an increasingly unfashionable system. There were other areas where the legacy of the past 40 years ran deep-in particular, the importance of individual rights in relation to the common good, which required a specific amendment to the definition. The concept of "healthy public policy", now a prominent element of a new public health, clearly holds understandable fears for those who have lived in a society where forms of social control have, for too long, denied very fundamental human rights. Agreeing new boundaries to the divide between individual freedom and the greater good of