[asia-apec 908] Angry Students Denounce Proposed $50 Million Alliance between Biotech Giant Novartis and UC Berkeley's College of Natural Resources

[Anuradha Mittal]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 20, 1998

Contact:        Faith Kearns
                Students for Responsible Research
                (510) 526-0920 / (510) 642-6315


Angry Students Denounce Proposed $50 Million Alliance between Biotech
Giant Novartis and UC Berkeley's College of Natural Resources

WHO:  Students for Responsible Research (Graduate students from
the College of Natural Resources)

WHERE:  UC Berkeley Campus, Koshland Hall (near Oxford and Hearst), Room
338

WHEN:  Immediately following the UC Berkeley Chancellor's press
conference which will be held at 11:00 A.M.

Despite significant student and faculty concern, Chancellor Berdahl plans
to formally announce a "strategic" alliance between UC Berkeley's College
of Natural Resources and the biotechnology conglomerate Novartis.  In
recent weeks, Students for Responsible Research has voiced objections to
the agreement and attempted to secure information about the contract.
Although students have been excluded from negotiations and full access to
information about the contract, Students for Responsible Research opposes
the agreement because:

A $50 million alliance with a particular corporation will undoubtedly bias
directions of research at UC Berkeley, a public institution.

This alliance indicates UC Berkeley's implicit endorsement of biotech
research, a field dedicated to profit-oriented genetic solutions rather
than sustainable agricultural practices.

This alliance sets a precedent for the privatization of scientific
research at publicly funded institutions of higher learning.

Anuradha Mittal
Policy Director
Institute for Food and Development Policy - Food First
398 60th Street, Oakland, CA 94618
Phone: (510) 654-4400  Fax: (510) 654-4551
http://www.foodfirst.org