[Tab] Ciencia y política ( también en España hace aire)

[Alva Garcia Raul]

Tomado de "The Scientist":

Spanish investigators have warned this week that a national law governing
research into the foot-and-mouth disease virus could hinder international
collaborations on the development of a vaccine against the veterinary pathogen.

In a letter made public last Wednesday (March 16), 135 scientists urged the
government to reconsider an "incomprehensible" law that they say prevents the
country's leading foot-and-mouth disease research institute from studying the
causative agent.

Their protest focuses on a Spanish "royal decree" published in November that
aims to enact a 2003 European Commission (EC) directive to tackle
foot-and-mouth disease. Scientists were surprised to find that the
Madrid-based Center of Animal Health Research (CISA), which has a long
tradition on foot-and-mouth disease research, was not listed in the decree as
the national center on foot-and-mouth disease. Instead, the Central Laboratory
of Animal Health (LCV) near Madrid was listed as the only reference center
authorized to manipulate live foot-and-mouth disease virus for any purpose,
including research and fabrication of vaccines.

Scientists in the 20 Spanish research groups working in the field are
concerned that their research cannot continue. "CISA is the only center with
the right biosafety level and with active research lines on foot-and-mouth
disease virus," CISA researcher Juan Bárcena told The Scientist.

"This is a serious political mistake," said CISA director Esteban Domingo,
noting that politics is behind the decision to leave the center off the list.
"An influential group at the Farming Ministry is trying to retake control over
CISA," he said.

The center, launched in 1993, belonged to the Farming Ministry until 2000.
Since then, it has been attached to the Science Ministry. According to
Bárcena, "Some people at the Farming Ministry want a shift in the type of
research currently performed in CISA."

"It's said that we are too involved in basic research and that we need to
engage in applied lines such a clinical trials with the aim of getting
short-term results," Bárcena said.

A total of 16 scientists are involved in foot-and-mouth disease virus research
in CISA, with seven projects underway. "Four of these projects are European
projects performed in collaboration with research centers at Belgium, United
Kingdom, Italy, The Netherlands, Germany, France, and Switzerland," said
Bárcena. There is a "risk that all of these will become paralyzed as a result
of the royal decree," he said.

These European projects, Bárcena said, are mainly devoted to designing new
vaccines, including DNA-based vaccines, against the virus. "Spanish research
on foot-and-mouth disease virus is pioneering at a worldwide level," the open
letter says. "It ranks third in the list of research papers, after the UK and
USA."

CISA scientists say they were not consulted by the government about its
decision not to include CISA in the Spanish decree. They also say that the EU
directive allows for more than one center to be listed as reference labs, as
is the case in Germany. "It would be more logical to have two reference
centers in Spain," said Francisco Sobrino, a scientist at CISA and at Madrid's
Molecular Biology Centre.

Concha Gómez-Tejedor, LCV director, told The Scientist that she has offered
her center to CISA researchers to continue their research. "What I won't
tolerate is that my center is criticized as a way for CISA researchers to
resolve their problems," she said.

But Sobrino notes that although LCV has a right biosafety level, its
facilities are not prepared to be used for foot-and-mouth disease virus
research. "Their animal facility is too small compared to CISA's," he said,
adding that "there is no research tradition in LCV."

María Echevarría, head of the Farming General Direction, told The Scientist
that although LCV is the sole reference center, CISA scientists "can continue
their research on foot-and-mouth disease virus."

But Bárcena said that he "distrusts her comments" and that "with the royal
decree in hand, if we continue doing [such] research, we may be penalized."

Yet the decree does not mention how researchers found conducting
foot-and-mouth virus research in centers other than LCV would be penalized.
Eva Quintanilla, a spokeswoman for the Spanish Science Ministry, said, "Our
will is that CISA scientists continue their research on foot-and-mouth disease
virus, and we are working together with the Farming Ministry to do so."
Links for this article
Center of Animal Health Research
http://www.inia.es/sapportal/guest/guest 

Francisco Sobrino
http://www.cbm.uam.es/mkfactory.esdomain/webs/CBMSO/plt_LineasI
nvestigacion.aspx?IdObjeto=26 


Dr. Raúl Alva
Biofisicoquímico
Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana-Unidad Iztapalapa
División de Ciencias Biológicas y de la Salud
Departamento de Ciencias de la Salud
AP 55-535
09340 México, D.F.
México