Punjab Newspaper

Biotechnology is a sensitive and critical scientific tool which has to be used most judiciously as it could prove a boon or bane for humanity, environment and over ecology of the planet Earth, said Vice Chancellor Dr Jaspal Singh. Presiding over a two-day symposium on Biotech-2009: Present and Future Perspective” at the university campus, Dr Jaspal Singh said with the advancement of the industry in the modern age, the environment got pollution, water resources got poisoned and soil became sick. All this happened because, in the pursuit of profits and more money, the industrialists ignored the disastrous impact of use of advanced scientific techniques.


He exhorted the assemblage of experts to work for restoration of the spoilt environment with the use of biotech and the university will fully support such venture. And he asked the Department of Biotechnology to take a lead in this direction. In his inaugural address, Baba Farid University of Medical Sciences, Dr S.S. Gill said the advanced biotech should be used for welfare of the society because there are greeter chances of utilizing it for destructive purposes as the scientific inventions in the past in the shape of atom bomb and other lethal weapons. But Biotech is most advanced gene technology which could alter human beings, plants and animals to the extent of extinction and evolution of these species through millennium go haywire, Dr Gill added.
Dr Kulvinder Singh Saini MD of R and D from Ranbaxy, a Pharmaceutical major said now the pharma companies world over are concentrating on developing gene-focus medicines instead of manufacturing a drug suited to one and all. Developing of a molecular based drug , of which biotechnology is the bigger tool, takes at least 10 to 15 years for reaching the market. That is why, this process is costlier and his company has earmarked a sum of Rs 500 crore for such a project, he added.
Dr Saini urged the biotech students to devote their more time and energy on applied biotech instead of pure theory pursuits. Introducing the theme of the symposium, Department head Dr.P P Balgir said the deliberations will focus on four topics- Food and Fermentation, Medical Biotech, Agriculture Biotech and Environmental biotech. Dr Aruna Bhatia from the Department more than two dozen papers will be presented and discussed.