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= ... GLPBBAL NEWS ... NEWS BATTLE FOR CONTROL OF WORLD'S SEEDS Eighteen international agricultural research centres (IARCs) are the focus of a fight between developing countries and the World Bank. The developing nations are fighting a bid by the World Bank to take command of the research centres which are vital to global food production. The World Bank wants to control both the IARCs and their priceless collections of genetic varieties of crops. The developing nations claim that since most of these vari- ties come from their countries, control should go to them. The 18 centres which were set up in the 1950s have been at the forefront of efforts to meet the increasing demand for food. "The outcome of the present power struggle could have wide-ranging and pro- L found effects," says Pat Mooney of Rural meeting in Delhi by the Consultative YOUR HEALTH UNDER SIEGE Advancement Foundation International, a Group for International Agricultural development pressure group. Research, the informal group of donors that Recent amendments to the [Australian] "If the World Bank controls agricultural funds the IARCs. health legislation, effective as from | July research, then it controls the shape of world Normally this group exerts minimal con- 1994, threaten to severely penalise doctors agriculture for the immediate future." He trol over the IARCs, which are otherwise practising in the area of natural health. says the bank's backing for economic independent, but in Delhi the group's Doctors at high risk under these legislative reforms in developing countrics, which chaiman, Ismail Serageldin rejected the changes are those who practise nutrition tends to favour cash crops over local sub- plan, and proposed establishing centralised and environmental medicine, herbal medi- sistence, makes that a worrying prospect. committees headed by the World Bank, to cine, homeopathy, ayurvedic medicine, and In May this year, the IARCs signed an control funding, research and intellectual _ relaxation and meditation therapy. agreement with the UN Food and property rights. Under this new legislation, clinically rel- Agriculture Organisation (FAO) to give It just so happens that Ismail Serageldin evant, appropriate medical services by doc- control to the Intergovernmental _ is also the World Bank's Vice-President for tors to patients are defined as services Commission on Plant Genetic Resources, a Sustainable Development, and thus is ina which are "generally acceptable" to the body sponsored by the FAO and in which good position to determine the amount of body of medical practitioners. every member country has a vote. funding, if any, the eighteen centres will Doctors suspected of “inappropriate ser- But even though this plan had full receive in the future. vicing" can now be referred by the Health approval from the FAO, it was rejected at a (Source: New Scientist, 2 July 1994) Insurance Commission to a Professional Services Review Committee which will determine whether their practice methods are acceptable or inappropriate. If the doc- tor's practice is determined to be “inappro- priate", extremely heavy fines can be levied by the HIC, effectively driving that doctor into bankruptcy and forcing him/her to retire from medical practice. This legislation has been designed to stop doctors rorting the Medicare benefits schedule—a laudable goal. However, doc- tors who practise natural medicine are at serious risk of being caught up in this leg- islative net and discriminated against for three reasons: 1) Their consultation and pathology- ordering profiles are quite different to those of more ‘orthodox' GPs, so they are much more likely to be referred to the PSR Committee for "inappropriate servicing"; 2) The PSRC's assessment guidelines BATTLE FOR CONTROL OF WORLD'S SEEDS 8 ¢ NEXUS YOUR HEALTH UNDER SIEGE OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 1994