fw: GMF RESEARCH JUN 29/03

June 30, 2003

GMF RESEARCH JUN 29/03

IN THIS ISSUE:

1. BAN-GEF: DR CHAPELA BEGINS PROTEST TODAY

(06/26/03 ....It has been suggested that the extraordinary delay in

reaching a decision on my tenure case without ostensible reason may be

the result of, even retribution for, my advising our campus, academe,

the government and the public against dangerous liaisons with the

biotechnology industry, as well as my concerns regarding the problems

with biotechnology itself... Ignacio H. Chapela Assistant Professor

(Microbial Ecology) Department of Environmental Science, Policy and

Management Ban-GEF)

2. BAN-GEF: GM PRODUCTION OF A CURRENTLY INDIGENOUS TREASURE

(06/28/03 Currently Annatto is produced by natives and contributes

towards their subsistence. The development GM Annatto will have

profound impact on the survival of those who harvest the seeds used to

produce the product. Is the GM product a form of biopiracy of an

indigenous product? jcummins)

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" Ban-GEF " <Ban-GEF

Ban-GEF Digest for 6/26/03

" Ban-GEF " <Ban-GEF

Thu, 26 Jun 2003 23:51:58 -0500

26 Jun 2003 12:41:05 -0500

Jason Boehk <jasonab

Dr. Chapela begins protest today

Berkeley, California, 26 June 2003

We asked the captain what course of action he proposed to take toward a

beast so large, terrifying, and unpredictable. He hesitated to answer,

and then said judiciously: " I think I shall praise it. "

Robert Hass

Dear friends, dear colleagues,

Beginning at 6 o'clock this morning, as I enter the final days of my

contract as a faculty member at the University of California at

Berkeley, I intend to mark and celebrate them, by doing what I believe a

professor in a public university must do: to further reason and

understanding. For the brief time that remains of my terminal contract

at Berkeley, I shall sit holding office hours, day and night, outside

the doors of California Hall. This is the building housing the Budget

Committee of the Academic Senate, and the office of the Chancellor, the

two arms of our university governance in charge of my file.

I am saddened by the failure of the administration and the Academic

Senate to resolve in a timely fashion whether to grant me tenure at

Berkeley. I believe that I have contributed to the mission of the

university and my heart and intellect are also vested in its health and

growth. All but one of the colleagues who witness my everyday teaching

and research in the Department of Environmental Science, Policy and

Management have repeatedly stated their support for my tenure, and so

have a set of external expert reviewers and the leadership of my

College. To the extent that reason can assess, I do not know of any

other academic information on the case that might suggest that a

negative decision should be reached. Yet as of tonight, well over a

year into the part of the process conducted in secret in California

Hall, no decision has been made, as far as I am aware. I must

therefore conclude that there is another set of criteria that

counterweigh the strength of the case, but that such information cannot

be publically shared. In the face of such lack of transparency and

accountability, I choose to hold office hours in public, in the open,

and in the midst of our beautiful campus. I do so in celebration of my

vocation and my time at Berkeley, and not in the expectation that such

an action will change the course of the decision process, whatever that

might be.

It has been suggested that the extraordinary delay in reaching a

decision on my tenure case without ostensible reason may be the result

of, even retribution for, my advising our campus, academe, the

government and the public against dangerous liaisons with the

biotechnology industry, as well as my concerns regarding the problems

with biotechnology itself. Without doubt, the uncertainty and reproach

implicit in the silence on campus surrounding my case has had grave

consequences for my professional, public and personal life. But such

are the wages of doing work that has significance for the world, and it

will be up to those sifting through the files of this case to discern

the twists and turns that brought us to this moment, and to pass the

judgment of history on the motives and actions of those involved, within

and beyond our community. It is difficult to blame otherwise principled

individuals for not voicing their best understanding. Fear is justified

when even the president of the country equates with criminal acts any

questioning of the wisdom of deploying transgenic crops. Against the

desire of some to banish critical thinking from the birthplace of the

Free Speech Movement, I choose to sit, openly available for discourse,

in the heart of our campus.

At least one person has said that I should be banned from the academic

system, implying that my work harms the public role of the university as

a hothouse for the agbiotech industry. Indeed I have long stood against

the folly of planting 100 million acres with transgenic crops each year,

without knowing even the simplest consequences of such a massive

intervention in the biosphere. An increasing number of scientists seem

to be reaching the same position. It seems also true that research in

my laboratory has prompted serious public concerns that the industry

would rather not address. An industry on the crutches of public subsidy

for a quarter of a century, an industry that trembles in the face of the

simplest token of precautionary research, is hardly an industry that

deserves to carry the public trust, much less our best hope for

recovery in a flagging economy. It would seem rational that our

university - and the public - should strive to keep an independent

source of advice on the wisdom of supporting such an industry.

Rationality, however, must take a back seat when the university becomes

grafted to a specific industry. Such has increasingly been the case at

Berkeley and at other universities.

At a time of rampant obscurantism and irrationality, I am proud of the

privilege vested in me by the public as a professor at Berkeley. In

fulfillment of the duty attached to that privilege, I intend to share

the light of rationality during office hours over the next five days,

together with those who might wish to join me.

Fiat lux.

Ignacio H. Chapela Assistant Professor (Microbial Ecology) Department of

Environmental Science, Policy and Management

** Logistical details and contacts:

I will sit in an " office " without walls. This means that I will most

likely not have direct access to an AC electric wall outlet.

Nevertheless, I will have a battery-operated cell phone (USA-510-207

7331). My cell phone will need to be recharged occasionally; if you do

not get an answer, please leave a message and I will call back.

My email address is ichapela. In case of server

breakdown, please use ihchapela - email responses may be

delayed for some hours.

I will foreseeably be in my " office " 24 hours a day (except for short

unavoidable breaks) from Thursday to Monday midnight, circumstances

allowing. Three chairs will accommodate myself and two others in this

transparent office. Bring your own portable chair if you need to. I

hope to be able to offer tea and biscuits, but that is not a promise.

These last days have been on the hot side, but with any luck the natural

" breathing cycle " of the Bay Area will bring fog relief for at least

some of the mornings between Thursday and Monday. At meal times, I will

have space for company, although the seating may be less than royal, and

the menus are still being planned.

Despite President Bush's emphatic demands this week, the House has yet

to pass the BioShield legislation, and there may be further delays in

the Senate. Nevertheless, I am making efforts to comply with the

current spirit on our campus and across the nation by surrounding my

office with protective, gray, duct tape, for added security. Visitors

from Toronto and elsewhere in the world, please note that I will also

have protective face masks and rubber gloves at hand.

After midnight on Monday, I will be travelling to the Gen-ecology

laboratory in Norway until 22 July. I will be underway for a week,

subsequently available via my alternate email account:

ihchapela.

Please feel free to forward this email as you see fit. I hereby decline

all copyright.

- ---

[This E-mail scanned for viruses at mail.fiam.net]

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" Ban-GEF " <Ban-GEF

Ban-GEF Digest for 6/28/03

" Ban-GEF " <Ban-GEF

Sat, 28 Jun 2003 23:51:05 -0500

28 Jun 2003 18:57:52 -0500

jcummins <jcummins

GM production of a currently indigenous treasure

Currently Annatto is produced by natives and contributes towards their

subsistence. The development GM Annatto will have profound impact on

the survival of those who harvest the seeds used to produce the

product. Is the GM product a form of biopiracy of an indigenous product?

Science 300: 2089-2091,2003

Biosynthesis of the Food and Cosmetic Plant Pigment Bixin (Annatto)

Florence Bouvier, Odette Dogbo, Bilal Camara1

Bixin, also known as annatto, is a seed-specific pigment widely used in

foods and cosmetics since pre-Columbian times. We show that three genes

from Bixa orellana, native to tropical America, govern bixin

biosynthesis. These genes code for lycopene cleavage dioxygenase, bixin

aldehyde dehydrogenase, and norbixin carboxyl methyltransferase, which

catalyze the sequential conversion of lycopene into bixin. Introduction

of these three genes in Escherichia coli engineered to produce lycopene

induced bixin synthesis, thus expanding the supply of this economically

important plant product.

June 30, 2003