SASKATOON – The federal government’s recently published biotechnology strategy should translate into increased funding in the future, a leading biotech player said last week.
Kutty Kartha, director general of the National Research Council’s Plant Biotechnology Institute in Saskatoon, said in an interview the government policy statement is a boost for research.
“In a way, having a national strategy on biotechnology is a good framework for providing operating support,” he said Aug. 19. “Resources should follow. Logic dictates that.”
Peter McCann, president of Ag-West Biotech Inc., a Saskatoon company that promotes biotechnology, said the federal commitment sends an important message to the scientific community.
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“It is a sign that the federal government recognizes biotechnology as an engine of growth in this country,” he said. “That is very important.”
The federal strategy, developed after a series of national consultations and Parliament Hill hearings, stresses the need for public acceptance of genetic engineering and its products.
Part of that is making sure the regulatory system for those products is transparent and geared to maintaining “Canada’s continued high standards for protection of health, safety and the environment.”
Ottawa promised help in training personnel needed in the biotech industry and in funding the expensive research through “strategic investments in research and development to support biotechnology innovation, the regulatory framework and economic development.”
A seven-member cabinet committee, including agriculture minister Lyle Vanclief, will be created to deal with biotechnology policy development.
And an advisory committee of Canadians will be created to offer advice on a broad range of issues, from ethics to science, environment to the risks and benefits of new technologies.
The government announcement said the new science offers benefits of job creation and exports.
Vanclief said this applies particularly to agriculture, offering a way to create new, safe and healthy food products.
“Biotechnology also offers the Canadian agriculture and food industries new opportunities for economic prosperity.”
Inside Agriculture Canada, work already has started to create the “work plans” which will become the specific departmental policy tools, according to Margaret Kenney, acting director of the office of biotechnology at the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.
“I think this is a very promising overall position from the government,” she said in an Aug. 21 interview. “It gives us the go-ahead to start drawing up action plans to put these principles into effect … . That work has started.”
Kenney said she agreed with the strategy’s emphasis on public opinion, knowledge and acceptance.
“I think Canadians understand there are benefits, but they want to know the right checks and balances are in place on safety and the environment, for example,” she said. “It is our job to make sure they are, and to make sure that story gets out.”
