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President Bush’s refusal to sign the Biodiversity Convention at the
Earth Summit in Rio has been condemned by rank-and-file researchers in the
American biotechnology industry. Seventy scientists and employees at Genentech,
a biotechnology company based in California, have written to Bush to say
that his administration’s concerns were ‘shortsighted’ and the loss of biodiversity
was a greater threat than protecting company patent rights.

Their letter expressed concern for the destruction of the world’s rainforests.
Eventually, such losses would harm the industry, they said. ‘We believe
that what is good for the planet is good for business in the long run. New
discoveries will be lost if the natural habitats that hold the key to them
are destroyed.’

The Industrial Biotechnology Association in Washington DC supports the
Bush administration (This Week, 4 July). Its president Dick Godown was surprised
that scientists disagreed with the association, but, he said, ‘It’s a free
country, people can say what they like.’

Unlike his employees, Genentech’s chief executive, Kirk Raab, takes
the same view as the association. Early this month he wrote to Bush praising
him for opposing the treaty because it ‘could have a negative impact on
worldwide patent rights’. But this angered his staff, who then wrote to
Bush to put forward their point of view.