CHINA HEALTH SCIENCES NEWSLETTER
Vol. 3 , No.10 - April 16, 2002
TOPICS THIS ISSUE:
- China Will Draft Law on Biosafety
- Harvard Research in China Suspended
- Imported Cosmetics Seized Over Mad Cow Fears
- China Opens Medical Qualification Exams to Foreigners
- Mainland, HK, Taiwan Urged to Cooperate in Bio-pharmaceutical Development
China Will Draft Law on Biosafety
China is considering drafting its first biosafety law to better regulate the country's use and development of modern biotechnology. The law would regulate the controversial transgenic technology, according to the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA).
SEPA officials said "biosafety" refers to the potentially adverse effects caused by living modified organisms (LMOs) in research, development, usage and cross-border movement on biodiversity, the environment and human health.
Such a law is urgent to ensure the country's overall safety in a wide range covering agriculture, pharmaceuticals, trade and the environment. Under the law, biotechnology in agricultural production needs to undergo risk evaluation and regular inspections to reduce harm to the ecosystem. And transgenic plants with pest and disease problems could pose a threat to other organisms while killing viruses.
The law would also require risk evaluation on the mass production of transgenic foods to protect human health. The law would spell out rules for evaluating and inspecting alien species imports, including transgenic seeds.
The country is tentatively operating a biosafety information exchange center with financial support from the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) to promote scientific co-operation and to share expertise internationally. China's Ministry of Agriculture actually drafted regulations on trade of genetically modified agricultural products earlier this year. The regulations require all imported genetically modified soybeans, corn, rapeseed, cottonseed and tomatoes to be clearly labeled GMO products. Overseas firms exporting GMO products to China must obtain certificates from the ministry to ensure their goods are safe.
(Source: China Daily)
Harvard Research in China Suspended
Several reports, sent to Harvard University by the "Human Beings Study and Protection Office" within the United States' Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), charged its 14 projects on the study of human beings carried out in the rural areas of China's Anhui Province with severely violating regulations. Xu Xiping, associate professor with the Harvard University School of Public Health, conducts 12 out of the 14 projects.
The irregularities mentioned in the reports cover the facts that the researchers did not inform the participants of the possible uncomfortable symptoms associated with the test, and the language used in the contract signed between the researcher and the participants is complicated and barely comprehensible to Chinese farmers.
When contacted by reporters, the public relations director in the School of Public Health explained that the research conducted in China do not include human body experiments as rumored and, moreover, the research has been suspended. The FBI later revealed that their reports were based on a thorough investigation. Thus far, no illnesses have been reported and the FBI has no plan to recommend prosecution.
(Source: People's Daily)
Imported Cosmetics Seized Over Mad Cow Fears
Beijing customs has seized a total of 177 cosmetics items imported from countries and regions where mad cow disease (bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE) has been found since early March.
The cosmetics, most of which are perfume, were produced in France, Britain, Italy and Japan, according to the Beijing Bureau of Quality Supervision and Inspection and Quarantine.
The Ministry of Health and the State General Administration of Quality Supervision and Inspection and Quarantine issued a statement on March 4 banning the import and sale of cosmetics from countries and regions where BSE has been found.
Enterprises that already import cosmetic products containing cattle or sheep brain tissue, nerve tissue, internal organs, placenta and blood, or their extracts, are urged to immediately report to health authorities and withdraw them from sale before the April 20 deadline, or face punishment.
The directive shows the Chinese Government's persistent determination to prevent the disease from entering China.
Health authorities will also kick off a campaign in Beijing to conduct a complete check on imported cosmetics, ensuring such products are not sold on the market.
Many large department stores in the capital have already stopped the sale of these imported cosmetics. However, in many small and medium-sized markets, such cosmetics are reportedly still for sale.
Some market managers said they are waiting for a list of the banned cosmetics before clearing their shelves because they do not know which ones should be pulled.
Consumers have also been waiting for the list to know which cosmetics to avoid. Such a list will be distributed, according to the Ministry of Health, but it will not happen until after April 20, reported the ministry.
(Source: China Daily)
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China Opens Medical Qualification Exams to Foreigners
Foreign nationals are for the first time being allowed to sit for China's annual qualification examination to be a State-approved doctor this year.
The Ministry of Health said that the exam will be open to foreign nationals who have obtained Chinese medical college diplomas and completed a one-year internship in relevant hospitals.
Registration will begin on May 15 and last for 15 days. The national written exam for general practice will take place in mid-September.
It is estimated that the majority of foreign students will apply for the exam on traditional Chinese medicine.
Statistics show that 3,500 foreign medical students have graduated from 20 traditional Chinese medicine colleges across China. Some 2,000 have returned to their respective countries.
China began the medical qualification exam in 1999. The exam is also open to residents of Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan.
(Source: Xinhuanet)
Mainland, HK, Taiwan Urged to Cooperate in Bio-pharmaceutical Development
The Chinese Mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan should cooperate more closely to create the Chinese "Merck", Chinese "Glaxo Smithkline" and Chinese "Pfizer", said scientists and entrepreneurs attending the recent Cross Strait Bio-pharmaceutical Forum 2002.
The three above-mentioned bio-pharmaceutical companies are all among the world's top-twelve companies in terms of market value. However, bio-tech companies in the Greater China region are mostly small and medium sized now, noted Lo Yuk Lam, chairman of the Hong Kong Biotechnology Association.
"We need collaboration, or we will never be able to achieve critical mass for discoveries the in the bio-pharmaceutical field," Lo said.
He emphasized that companies in the Chinese Mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan should all keep in mind the concept of Greater China. A cluster combining the resources of the whole region would have greater economic advantages, he added.
Lo also stressed in his speech that Hong Kong can help because of its experience in the capital and financial markets, its retention of world-class managers and researchers, sound legal and tax systems and its free flow of information.
The transfer of technical findings to commercial results, or the combination of technology, capital, human resources and management, is a key problem "even more urgent than the technology itself" in achieving the target of being a competitive bio-tech company, Pei Gang, head of Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences of the Chinese Academy of Sciences said.
Other speakers, including Yu Zhengwei, chief engineer of the Shanghai Fudan-Zhangjiang Bio-pharmaceutical Company, and Por-Hsiung Lai, managing director of President Life Sciences, also noted that a perfect model of a successful biopharmaceutical company requires an experienced management team, close cooperation with high level academic organizations, strong technical platforms, multiple avenues of raising money and the right location.
At the forum, experts also discussed the newest trends in the bio-tech field and stressed the importance to develop products with China's own intellectual property. Areas which were pointed out as having a promising future included protein engineering, bio-chips, the modernization of traditional Chinese medicine and bio-information.
(Source: Xinhuanet)
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