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Celebrating Petrobras’ 56th anniversary, CEO José Sergio Gabrielli de Azevedo and the boards of Petrobras and of its subsidiaries held a press conference this Wednesday (10/07) at the company’s main office building, in Rio de Janeiro. snip "We are the world’s only major company that uses most of its production to feed its own refineries, which, in turn, market their products mainly in the domestic market. This characteristic is unique in the world," emphasized the CEO, who highlighted the role the company will play from now on, particularly in the supplier chain. "Petrobras will not only supply oil derivatives, natural...

Snippets: President Obama's nominee at the Department of Homeland Security overseeing bioterrorism defense has served as a key adviser for a lobbying group funded by the pharmaceutical industry that has asked the government to spend more money for anthrax vaccines and biodefense research. Analysts say the lack of disclosure reflects a potential loophole in the policies for the Obama administration, which has boasted about its efforts to make government more transparent. They also question lobbying laws that allow such a group to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars without the public knowing exactly how much money each of the companies...

SAN FRANCISCO -- The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the world's largest private philanthropy fund, sold off almost all of its pharmaceutical, biotechnology and health-care investments in the quarter ended June 30, according to a regulatory filing published Friday. The Seattle-based charity endowment, set up by Microsoft Corp. founder Bill Gates and his wife, sold its total holding of 2.5 million shares in health-care giant Johnson & Johnson in the quarter, according to the filing.

“No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth!” —President Ronald Reagan Life Legal Defense Foundation continues to watchdog the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine and in doing so found the latest attempt to promulgate embryonic stem cell research by “educating” children. Let us introduce you to Senate Bill 471. Titled “The California Stem Cell and Biotechnology Education and Workforce Development Act of 2009,” the purpose of SB 471 is purportedly to train up a new generation of...

KANNAPOLIS, N.C. — Where a textile mill once drove the economy of this blue-collar town northeast of Charlotte, an imposing neoclassical complex is rising, filled with fine art, Italian marble and multimillion-dollar laboratory equipment. Three buildings, one topped by a giant dome, form the beginnings of what has been nicknamed the Biopolis, a research campus dedicated to biotechnology. At $500 million and counting, the Biopolis, officially called the North Carolina Research Campus, is a product of a national race to attract the biotechnology industry, a current grail of economic development. Cities like Shreveport, La., and Huntsville, Ala., are also gambling...

The Pathway For Biosimilars Act introduced by Eschoo (D-Ca), Inslee ( D-Wa) and Barton(R-Tx) will ensure enough time for companies to recoup their cost of research and development before a generic manufacturer could use the innovators research data. By doing so, companies will have an incentive to continue inventing life saving drugs. Join PRA in supporting H.R. 1548.

(03-26) 13:50 PDT SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO -- Swiss drugmaker Roche said Thursday it completed its acquisition of biotechnology pioneer Genentech Inc. after sweeping up enough shares through a tender offer to gain ownership of more than 93 percent of Genentech's common stock. Roche, which owned 56 percent of the South San Francisco biotechnology leader when it made its first takeover bid in July at $89 a share, eventually reached agreement after months of bargaining with Genentech's board for a friendly takeover at $95 a share. Investors who tendered their shares by Roche's deadline late Wednesday will receive the cash promptly,...

Imagine Africa feeding itself comfortably, instead of being overwhelmed by its own expanding population. Imagine millions of tropical consumers being fed without clearing more forests, thus protecting the wildlife in the very regions where most of the species of the world live and are critically threatened by population pressure. Suddenly, high-yield conservation for the tropics may not be a pipedream. Half of the world's tropic croplands suffer from aluminum toxicity that forces crop plants to shut down their growth. Grains and oilseeds produce meager yields-and scientists haven't even known why. The resulting low yields and food scarcity have stifled the...

A radical technique for treating diabetes could recruit cells in the gut to make insulin SAN DIEGO — If your pancreas fails you, go with your gut. Inserting a gene into gut cells in mice enabled those cells to take over the pancreas’s job, producing insulin after meals, according to unpublished research announced June 18 in San Diego at the Biotechnology Industry Organization International Convention. The work may offer a novel way to treat diabetes. "This is the first time that we've engineered a tissue that is not the pancreas to manufacture insulin" in animals, says researcher Anthony Cheung, a...

Food: Today's headlines are filled with Americans expressing their fears of food shortages and frustration with spiraling grocery prices. As part of the solution, it's time to give genetically modified crops a try.There's much resistance to overcome, however. In the fall of 2006, Friends of the Earth publicly asked governments in the hungry African countries of Ghana and Sierra Leone to recall American food aid that contained genetically modified rice. Four years earlier, when southern Africa was tormented by famine, the U.S. offered 540,000 tons of genetically modified grain. Though the World Health Organization estimated that nearly 14 million Africans,...

Left: Two rod-shaped, wild type cyanobacteria. Note the conspicuous absence of any cellulose or sugars on the surface of these cells. Right: A genetically altered cyanobacterium that produced highly visible cellulose (marked by cellulase coupled with an electron dense gold marker). Credit: Brown and Nobles, the University of Texas at Austin A newly created microbe produces cellulose that can be turned into ethanol and other biofuels, report scientists from The University of Texas at Austin who say the microbe could provide a significant portion of the nation’s transportation fuel if production can be scaled up. Along with cellulose, the...

The Twenty-First Century Challenge to Human Dignity This article is from the October 2006 BreakPoint WorldView magazine. Sign up today to receive the free online edition 10 times a year!In the manifesto on the “Sanctity of Life in a Brave New World” that Chuck Colson and I launched with representative Christian leaders in the spring of 2004, we addressed four key areas for Christian concern at the outset of the “biotech century.” They all converge on one concept: eugenics. Eugenics is the idea that we should weed out the sick and the diseased and favor the strong and healthy....

Cholera, 'flu and many more diseases tackled by eating rice A seemingly bizarre experiment in genetically engineering plants has come up with a strain of rice that could make vaccination injections a thing of the past. Researchers working at the University of Tokyo's Institute of Medical Science are working with experts in the fields of drugs, agrobiology and genetics to change the makeup of rice to include cholera proteins. Anti-disease technology When the rice is fed to laboratory mice, it causes them to develop antibodies to cholera in the same way a standard vaccination would work. The implications - if...

With crop supplies 'dicey,' do we want to roll the dice? By Bruce Freitag With crop supplies 'dicey,’ do we want to roll the dice? Just before giving up his post as interim U.S. agriculture secretary last month, Chuck Conner warned that growing enough corn, soybeans and wheat to meet food, feed and biofuel demands this year is going to be “very dicey.” He thought that we farmers were up to the challenge this year, but many of us are concerned that we will be denied the tools we need for the long run. Renewable fuels are a new challenge....

Government plans clampdown on vandalism after lobbying from biotech firms Genetically modified crops may be grown in hidden locations in Britain amid fears that anti-GM campaigners are winning the battle over the controversial technology, the Guardian has learned. Officials at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) confirmed they are looking at a range of options to clamp down on vandalism to GM crop trials, after intense lobbying by big crop biotech companies. The firms have warned that trials of GM crops are becoming too expensive to conduct in Britain because of the additional costs of protecting fields...

SYDNEY, October 30, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - In a stirring essay on the coming tensions between the secular world and the Catholic Church, Sydney's Cardinal George Pell has outlined threats to the freedom of religion stemming from biotechnology, gay 'rights' and fears of Islamic violence.  The must read piece titled, "Prospects for peace and rumours of war: Religion and democracy in the years ahead," is a serious reflection despite Pell's characteristic use of wit. Beginning on the hopeful note that the Church, despite the desires of certain atheist fanatics, is here to stay; the Cardinal points to trends which have already...

A WORKER has raised concerns about bio-security at the state-owned research complex where the foot and mouth outbreak is believed to have originated. Percy Ravate, a contract worker, was struck down with life-threatening Legionnaires’ disease, which he believes he caught while repairing pipework at the Pirbright complex in Surrey. He said basic health and safety procedures were flouted, he was allowed to roam around laboratories and security measures such as checking visitors were not enforced. [snip] The doors to the labs had swipe cards, but to help the workers they were left open. “They used to leave the doors on...

The $73.5 billion global biotech business may soon have to grapple with a discovery that calls into question the scientific principles on which it was founded. Last month, a consortium of scientists published findings that challenge the traditional view of the way genes function. The exhaustive, four-year effort was organized by the United States National Human Genome Research Institute and carried out by 35 groups from 80 organizations around the world. To their surprise, researchers found that the human genome might not be a "tidy collection of independent genes" after all, with each sequence of DNA linked to a single...

Alameda, CA (LifeNews.com) -- A leading biotech firm is repeating its claim that it has developed a process that can obtain embryonic stem cells from human embryos without destroying them. The destruction of days-old unborn children has been the main reason why pro-life groups oppose the controversial research. The destruction of life is also President Bush's largest concern and a key factor in his vetoing a bill on Wednesday that would have forced taxpayers to fund the research. Advanced Cell Technology repeated its claims on Thursday that it created a line of human embryonic stem cells without destroying the embryo...

I'll just come out and say it. I'm a drug killer. I persuade companies to stop developing uneconomical new medicines. This is part of what my consulting company, Objective Insights, does to help pharmaceutical and biotech companies make good decisions about their business opportunities. Say that a drug company is developing a scientifically exciting new drug for breast cancer. We analyze that drug and tell the company whether it makes economic sense to continue development. In the past, we have suggested that drug companies pull the plug many times. We have helped kill drugs for brain cancer, ovarian cancer, melanoma,...

Anarchists, radical environmentalists and other activists from across the country are gearing up for a “massive week of resistance” in opposition to an international biotechnology conference in Boston next month that likely will mark the largest Hub protests since the 2004 Democratic National Convention. While police resources are already stretched from a spike in street violence, the department is bracing for potentially large-scale protests of the BIO International Convention May 6-9 at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. The city is in the midst of building a security plan reminiscent of the costly show of force at the DNC. “Obviously,...

When Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw founded Biocon India in 1978 with 10,000 rupees (225 US dollars) and an office in a rented car garage, no banker was willing to give her a loan. Back then, no one had heard of biotechnology, which uses micro-organisms such as bacteria or biological substances like enzymes to make drugs and synthetic hormones. Women entrepreneurs were also rare and finding recruits willing to work under a female boss was difficult. Mazumdar-Shaw, hailed in 2004 as India's richest woman with a personal fortune of 21 billion rupees, and Biocon, India's biggest biotech firm with 3,000 employees, have come...

For a long time now, Americans have been told by the scientists who developed genetically modified (GM) crops and organisms that GM is safe and wonderful. This was done with the blessing of government regulators, such as the Federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). It was alleged that GM crops, such as Bt and Roundup Ready, to use the best known biotech products, are good for biodiversity, increase yields, are resistant to pests, reduce the need for pesticides, are more profitable for the farmers, and less labor intensive. But a close examination of...

Stepping into the middle of a growing debate, a freshman assemblyman has introduced legislation that would make companies developing genetically engineered crops liable for damages if their work results in contamination of other fields. The bill by Assemblyman Jared Huffman also would ban open-field production of genetically engineered crops used in the development of medications. And it would require growers to give county agriculture commissioners at least 30 days notice before engaging in open-field development of other genetically modified plants. Huffman, D-San Rafael, said the measure is needed to protect California farmers against significant losses if their conventional or organic...

English tabloids are nothing if not colorful, but recently they’ve outdone themselves, splashing images of bizarre genetic mixtures of humans with rabbits and cows across their front pages, derisively dubbed “Franken-bunnies” and “moo-tants” by the headline writers of Fleet Street. The frenzy was triggered by England’s Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority, which is pondering the legality of “chimeras,” meaning organisms that carry both human and animal genes. Such creatures may seem like science fiction, but in less spectacular form they’re already common, from cows injected with human stem cells in order to produce a human protein in their milk, which...

2001 was a bad year for bollworms in Gujarat. The pink larval creatures infested cotton fields across the Indian state, devastating harvests. But some fields, remarkably, were mostly immune. Mayhco, an Indian seed company partially owned by Monsanto, became suspicious. Mayhco and Monsanto had been striving for years to get permission to sell genetically modified Bt cotton in India -- a strain that produces its own anti-bollworm insecticide -- but the application had been fought at every step by India's vigorous anti-GM activists and was undergoing lengthy trials. Sure enough, after testing the cotton, Mayhco determined that it contained the...

As Congress hunts for ways to push its stem-cell bill past an expected veto, states are charging ahead on their own. Last month, Gov. Eliot Spitzer kicked off plans to spend $1 billion on New York-based stem-cell research over the next decade. Spitzer is following the lead of California, whose massive $3 billion effort pioneered the state-level stem-cell surge two years ago. Similar, if smaller-scale, efforts are afoot in Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, and New Jersey. In backing stem cells, state leaders are promising miracle cures for deadly diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and AIDS—and telling voters that...

“How can you side with those people?” In 2002, a paralyzed research advocate who actively supports embryonic-stem-cell and human-cloning research asked me this question. By “those” people she meant Christians, conservatives, and pro-life groups.  “It’s simple,” I said. “Why is it in our interest to sit in these wheelchairs for the rest of our lives so science can puzzle over safety problems linked to embryonic stem cells and human cloning, while ignoring the cells that nature designed for the treatments we need?” In the discussion that followed I explained why embryonic stem cells (ESCs) are inferior to adult stem...

Recent successful tests of neural prosthetics bring the devices closer to widespread use. Paralyzed patients dream of the day when they can once again move their limbs. That dream is making its way to becoming a reality, thanks to a neural implant created by John Donoghue and colleagues at Brown University and Cyberkinetics Neurotechnology Systems. In 2004, Matthew Nagle, who is paralyzed due to a spinal-cord injury, became the first person to test the device, which translated his brain activity into action (see "Implanting Hope," March 2005, and "Brain Chips Give Paralyzed Patients New Powers"). Nagle's experience with the prosthetic...

A genetic "roadmap" will help to find treatments for diseases, by looking at the signatures that drugs leave behind. A newly developed genetic "roadmap" promises to streamline the drug discovery process. Called the Connectivity Map, this public database matches drug compounds with diseased cells and the processes occurring within them. "The reason it's so difficult to find those disease and drug connections is that the languages in which they are conventionally described are very different," says Justin Lamb, senior scientist at the Broad Institute in Cambridge, MA. "A physician would describe a disease in terms of its physical symptoms, whereas...

Scientists say they have identified a gene that will allow rice plants to survive being completely submerged in water for up to two weeks. Most rice plants die within a week of being underwater, but the researchers hope the new gene will offer greater protection to the world's rice harvest. Farmers in south-east Asia lose an estimated £524m ($1bn) each year from rice crops being destroyed by flooding. The findings have been published in the science journal Nature. The team from the University of California, Davis, US, and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) based in the Philippines says the...

Biotech company executives in the Bay Area met Tuesday to begin working with California's sputtering stem-cell research institute, which was jump-started last week by the $150 million boost it got from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. ``I feel we are at a very important point in history here,'' said Michael West, chairman and chief scientific officer of Advanced Cell Technology of Alameda. He added that it was essential ``do do everything we possibly can to see that money is well spent.'' Still, the executives who met in San Francisco with officials at the stem-cell institute, created in 2004 when California voters passed...

The machinery of the human body is wonderfully complex, especially in its moving parts. That's why recreating it in metal and plastic is commonly thought to be the stuff of science fiction, androids and bionic men. But professor Hugh Herr, director of the Biomechatronics Group at MIT's Media Lab, has made a career of taking the fiction out of the science. His team has developed, among other marvels, a prosthetic ``Rheo Knee" that uses artificial intelligence to replicate the workings of a biological human joint ... ... ``The amputee can think, contract muscles, and directly control the artificial leg. It's...

I respectfully disagree that misguided economic policies emanating from Sacramento are scaring away biotechnology companies from California, as expressed in a recent editorial ("Scary prospect: 'Disincentives' driving new businesses from state," Forum, The Reporter, May 14). Contrary to the editorial, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger doesn't believe that California's talented work force, great climate, high quality of life and entrepreneurial culture alone are sufficient to retain and grow our biotech industry. According to biotech companies themselves, to that list The Reporter should add: support for high quality research and education; reasonable taxation policies; support for enlightened federal immigration policies; and a fiscally-sound...

Do people have a fundamental right to genetically and biotechnologically enhance their bodies and brains? That question was central to the "Human Enhancement Technologies and Human Rights" (HETHR) Conference held over the Memorial Day weekend at Stanford University's Law School. The conference was sponsored by the Stanford Center for Law and the Biosciences along with a number of technoprogressive groups including the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies, the Center for Cognitive Liberty and Ethics, geneforum, and ExtraLife. Far from there being a "right" to enhance oneself and one's progeny, some institutions and activists currently aim to outlaw various biotech...

May 17, 2006 - Scientists from the U. of Cincinnati claim to have developed a method to make organic light-emitting diodes (OLED) as much as 10x more efficient and 30x brighter -- with a little help from the humble salmon fish. Incorporating a thin layer of salmon DNA into the OLED structure as an electron-blocking layer improves the chance for electrons and holes to recombine and emit photons, thus enhancing the device's luminance, the researchers claim. Tests showed that a green "BioLED" with the DNA electron blocking layer (current density of 200 mA/cm2) achieved luminance of 15000 cd/m2, vs. 4500...

On May 12, Hwang Woo-suk, the “disgraced cloning scientist,” was indicted on charges of fraud, embezzlement, and ethics violations. The scientific community has rightly distanced itself from Hwang over his falsification of data. But there is still one thing that his efforts and much of the biotech industry share in common: a utilitarian disregard for the dignity and sanctity of human life. Prosecutors charge that Hwang used falsified data showing cloning success to defraud investors of at least $2 million. However, the real outrage lies in how Hwang obtained the eggs for the research whose results he falsified. The media...

SAN FRANCISCO - A tiny biosciences company is developing a promising drug to fight diarrhea, a scourge among babies in the developing world, but it has made an astonishing number of powerful enemies because it grows the experimental drug in rice genetically engineered with a human gene. Environmental groups, corporate food interests and thousands of farmers across the country have succeeded in chasing Ventria Bioscience's rice farms out of two states. And critics continue to complain that Ventria is recklessly plowing ahead with a mostly untested technology that threatens the safety of conventional crops grown for food. "We just want...

Scientists have created a molecular switch that could play a key role in thousands of nanotech applications. The Mol-Switch project successfully developed a demonstrator to prove the principle, despite deep scepticism from specialist colleagues in biotechnology and biophysics. "Frankly, some researchers didn't think what we were attempting was possible because standard descriptions in physics, for example the Stokes equation for viscosity indicated that the system might not work. But viscous forces do not apply at the nano-scale," says Dr Keith Firman, Reader in Molecular Biotechnology at Portsmouth University and coordinator of the Mol-Switch project, funded under the European Commission’s FET...

April 3, 2006 — The news is being hailed as a medical milestone: Several years after receiving new bladders engineered entirely in a laboratory, seven young patients are all still healthy. It marks the first long-term success of total-organ tissue regeneration, an area of medicine that until now was more the stuff of science fiction than clinical reality. Dr. Anthony Atala, the director of the Institute for Regenerative Medicine at Wake Forest University in North Carolina, reports in tomorrow's issue of the medical journal The Lancet on the success of the new procedure, which was performed on children born with...

A Chinese cosmetics company has been using skin taken from the bodies of executed convicts to develop beauty products for sale in Europe, a London newspaper reported. An agent for the company informed customers it is developing collagen for lip and wrinkle treatments from skin taken from prisoners after they had been shot. The agent said some of the company‘s products have been exported to Britain, and that the use of skin from condemned convicts was “traditional" and nothing to “make such a big fuss about,“ the Guardian reported In addition to ethical concerns, there is the potential risk of...

NEW YORK — German scientists say cells from the testes of mice can behave like embryonic stem cells. If the same holds true in humans, it could provide a controversy-free source of versatile cells for use in treating disease. Embryonic stem cells can give rise to virtually any tissue in the body and scientists believe they may offer treatments for diseases like Parkinson's and diabetes and spinal cord injuries. But to harvest the cells, human embryos must be destroyed. Some religious groups and others oppose that. The new research into testicular cells, published online Friday by the journal Nature, comes...

LONDON, March 15, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - On March 8th, International Women's Day, a coalition of abortion-supporting and pro-life women, concerned at the growing exploitation of women in biotechnology launched a new campaign against the harvesting and marketing of human eggs. The campaign, "Hands off our ovaries!" highlights the short and long-term risks involved in egg harvesting and its significance for the health and dignity of women. Concerned feminist representatives have joined together on this common ground, outraged by the casual attitude of the biotech industry towards the female body. Like-minded leaders and groups from around the world are invited to...

02 March 2006, 12:34 Patriarch Alexy: New biotechnologies should not infringe upon human dignity Moscow, March 2, Interfax - Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia has called upon medics to respect human dignity in introducing new biotechnologies. ‘The rapid development of biotechnologies challenges traditional religious awareness. Any evaluation of this development from the religious and moral point of view is possible only in dialogue between theologians, medics and scientists’, the patriarch says in his message to the International Conference on Development of Biotechnologies: Challenges to Christian Ethics, which has opened on Thursday in Moscow. According to Alexy II,...

China, with lower regulatory hurdles, is racing to a lead in gene therapy. Once a week, Hashmukh Patel, a 62-year-old retired semiconductor engineer from Silicon Valley, travels with his wife, Bena, from their Beijing hotel to Beijing-Haidian Hospital. They ride the crowded elevator to the ninth floor, enter a pleasant, sun-filled ward with private rooms, and Patel gets an injection that he hopes will save his life. Suffering from late-stage cancer of the esophagus, he has come to Beijing for a Chinese gene-therapy drug called Gendicine that's supposed to kill tumor cells. Patel tried just about everything before coming to...

  Both in consumption and variety, biotech is busting out all over -- and we're reaping a host of benefits from cheaper and better food to land and forest preservation.   Approved biotech crops in 2004 globally occupied 200 million acres, up from just 167 million acres the year before, an incredible forty-sevenfold increase since 1996.   In the United States, as well, biotech acreage increases annually. Most of our corn, about four-fifths of our cotton, and almost 90 percent of our soybeans are transgenic. That means a gene or genes from another organism has been spliced into them to give them new...

Exploiting biology's own chemical toolbox, researchers have developed a new technique that will allow them to modify specific sequences within a DNA molecule. The approach will not only help reveal the impact of biochemical alterations to DNA, but could have far-reaching implications for DNA-based medical diagnosis and nanobiotechnology. Combining chemistry with biotechnology, Saulius Klimasauskas, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) international research scholar at the Institute of Biotechnology in Vilnius, Lithuania, and chemists at the Institute of Organic Chemistry in Aachen, Germany, have harnessed a group of essential enzymes to add various chemical groups to DNA, thereby altering its function....

Scientists have created a “miracle mouse” that can regenerate amputated limbs or badly damaged organs, making it able to recover from injuries that would kill or permanently disable normal animals. The experimental animal is unique among mammals in its ability to regrow its heart, toes, joints and tail.

A team of South Korean scientists has created genetically altered pig clones, which produce an exorbitantly expensive substance that helps patients fight cancer. The team, led by professor Park Chang-sik at Chungnam National University, Wednesday said they cloned four female piglets that will secrete GM-CSF in their milk in a year. GM-CSF is a protein that stimulates the bone marrow to produce several kinds of white blood cells and prolong their survival outside the bone marrow.

NEW YORK - Shares of Biogen Idec and Elan soared on Tuesday as the companies said they had completed part of a safety review of their multiple sclerosis drug Tysabri--a medicine that has been demanded by some patients since it was pulled by the companies in February. But some doctors and analysts still say it is important to be cautious about the meaning of the safety review--especially since scientists are still combing through data testing Tysabri in Crohn's disease, a gastrointestinal disorder, and rheumatoid arthritis. Biogen and Elan have finished the safety review of the drug they began when they...