Cotton conundrum

THE Union government was fiddling, till the Bt cotton tangle became a burning issue. Even now — having dithered for five years and subjecting it to 400-odd field trials — the authorities have only set a tentative February 2002 deadline to decide on Bt cotton’s fate in India.

Solving poverty

How does vitamin A rice help solve poverty and malnutrition in developing countries? Interviewee:  Gurdev S Khush

Genomics could help cure cancer

You were a professor of computer sciences at the University of Arizona, usa , how did you move to the field of genomics and bioinformatics? Interviewee:  Eugene W Myers

Biodiversity & ethics

THIS book records the proceedings of the satellite symposium on 'Biotechnology and biodiversity: scientific and ethical issues', held in November 1996 at the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi, as part of the Second International Crop Science Congress.

A North-South conflict

biotechnology and bioresources are two issues that have been in conflict for a while. Biotechnology, proposed as "the technology of the next century", has its proponents in the developed countries and users in developing countries. But with companies in the North taking the bioresources from the South, patenting them and selling them right back to the developing countries, biotechnology has now become a major area of North-South confrontation.

How Dolly was cloned

why are we reviewing a book on the history of molecular biology? Not because Michel Morange, who wrote it, is a professor of microbiology at the University of Paris VI and Ecole Normale superior, whatever that distinguished title means or because Matte Cob has done a great job of translating the book from French to English.

Genetically modified, and spreading

 Cultivation of genetically modified (GM) crops is increasingly becoming popular. Supporters of biotechnology feel that GM crops are the answer to the problem of food security and will curb the excessive use of harmful chemical pesticides.

IISc is not working on terminator genes

The IISc seems to be preoccupied with basic research as distinct from application-oriented research. Much of the institute's work is today removed from the concerns of the common person. Do you agree this is true? Interviewee:  Goverdhan Mehta

Blueprint of life

WITH the 21st century being projected as the biotech century, proponents and opponents have often been engaged in a war of words on various issues -- scientific, environmental, genetic, sociological or ethical. While the Industrial Revolution is being criticised with hindsight, the possible effects of the rampant use of biotechnology are being discussed even before the revolution has actually begun.

"The North is driven by the industry"

On the importance of the Biosafety Protocol to the developing countries: The protocol is a legal mechanism being hammered out by the nations who have signed the Convention on Biological Diversity (cbd). It seeks to ensure safe transfer, handling and the use of living modified organism resulting from modern biotechnology that may have an adverse effect on conser-vation and sustainable use of biological diversity. Interviewee:  Christine Von W...