The battle over biodiversity

I write my column Here Come the Bio-Vikings! in TCS Daily on 20 December 2005.

A controversial Swedish expedition highlights the need to emphasize science over politics in the biodiversity debate

A new Swedish scientific expedition will invite accusations of biopiracy -- using and patenting genetic or biological resources without the consent of the country of origin -- from some environmentalists. But this group of would-be biovikings could prove as beneficial to our modern world, by forcing us to resolve an important issue, as were their Viking forebears with their exploring and trading.

The Swedish expedition calls attention to a very serious threat to further scientific progress: the damaging consequences for biotechnical, agricultural and pharmaceutical research resulting from the current stalemate in the international negotiations on genetic resources.

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