By Patricia Grogg
HAVANA, Nov 19 2001 (IPS)

Local authorities in Cuba, a country that stands out for its contributions in the field of biotechnology, are seeking to perfect the legal framework aimed at protecting the country from biological threats and ensuring the transparency of the use of the state-of-the-art technology, say experts.

“There is nothing secret here,” José Rodríguez Dueñas, director of the National Centre on Biological Safety, an institution created in 1996 by the Ministry of Science, Technology and the Environment, told IPS.

Rodríguez Dueñas emphatically rejected reports coming out of the United States on possible future attacks by Cuba based on this country’s well-developed biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries.

“Our philosophy is non-aggressive, and we are very strict when it comes to complying with international conventions, which accept the manipulation of microorganisms or biological agents for prophylactic and peaceful purposes,” he said.

He added, however, that Cuba had been targeted by biological warfare attacks that caused considerable damage to human health and the economy.

On a number of occasions the socialist government of Fidel Castro has accused the United States’ Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of introducing four biological elements from 1979 to 1981, which affected people and crops.

Hemorrhagic dengue fever alone affected 200,000 people, claiming 158 lives, including those of 101 children.

Castro also admitted early this month that 116 envelopes with no return address “containing dust and strange things,” and suspected of carrying anthrax spores, were detected in Cuba from Oct 15 to 31.

Authorities reported that 24 of the envelopes were still being analysed, while the presence of biological elements had been ruled out in the rest of the cases.

“Even if a bacterium had been introduced, it would not have caused panic, because everyone would know what to do,” said Castro, who received 25 of the letters.

The Sep 11 terror attacks in the United States and a spate of letter-borne anthrax attacks have triggered a wave of fear of biological warfare in that country.

But according to to Castro, it would be “very difficult for a letter containing a pathogenic virus or bacterium to be sent from Cuba to another country.”

Rodríguez defended the transparency of Cuba’s scientific research in advanced technologies, that has enabled this Caribbean island nation of 11 million to discover and produce vaccines and other medicines that in some cases are unique in the world.

For example, Cuban researchers came up with an antidote to the deadly menginitis B bacterium, which may soon be marketed in the European Union and even the United States, through an agreement reached with Smith Kline Beecham Pharmaceuticals, a British-US company.

“We must prepare ourselves against diseases that crop up, and that is the chief objective of our scientists,” said Rodríguez.

The National Centre for Biological Safety is the body in charge of regulating anything that has to do with the manipulation and use of biological organisms.

The Centre is also in charge of ensuring that Cuba complies with international treaties on biosafety that the country has signed, like the Convention on Bacteriological and Toxin Weapons.

The convention, which went into effect in 1972 and has been signed so far by 143 countries, bans the manufacture and use of biological weapons. Negotiations are currently underway to strengthen the treaty with a protocol that would introduce verification procedures.

Cuba, which ratified the convention in 1976, also forms part of the United Nations Environment Programme’s Convention on Biological Diversity, adopted by 105 countries in 1992.

In addition, it signed the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, which establishes measures to ensure the proper, safe use of biotechnology, in 1992.

The protocol on biosafety, which is to be ratified by signatory nations by January 2002, regulates the use, transport and trade in genetically modified organisms, especially food.

Cuba has also made progress in the field of transgenics, although its products are still in the experimental stage and cannot be found on the market. “Everything related to transgenics is evaluated step by step,” said Rodríguez.

In his view, genetic manipulation arrived to Latin America without any evaluation of the risks, and without any safety standards, something that the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety is designed to correct.

The protocol “provides for safety and guarantees regarding cross-border movements of genetically modified live organisms,” said the expert.

Four Cuban laws, including decree-law 190, regulate and provide a legal framework for scientific research, with a view to biosafety. The system will be perfected by other mechanisms currently under study, having to do with inspection, the construction of new installations and control of microorganisms.

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