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Selected Reports on Public Health Safety Published in the Newsjournal Medicalnews
Prof Mercy Devasahayam
Genre: science / research report; Paperback; Price: Rs 250, Hardbound 275

Though almost every scientific and technological breakthrough has occurred from the development of cloned to transgenic animals, the scientific community, the media, government and the business community remain loath to engage in a broad public debate mostly due to a lack of scientific data which could enable them to make broad factual generalizations. For the very same reason risks associated with the new science and its commercial application are often ignored ethically or unethically depending on the financial pressure to produce an innovative product.

“Selected Reports on Public Health Safety from the News Journal Medicalnews” provides a compilation of popular reports which deals with issues of ethical perspectives, climate change and the economic impact of innovative scientific achievements on public health. The book reports on the effect of genetically modified crops on public health safety which include horizontal gene transfer in genetically modified crops, low-easy-to-digest-protein in rice and the safety of marker genes in genetically modified or GM crops. The book also addresses the increase in infectious diseases due to global climate change and its impact on public health. The book reports on the economic benefit; of eating and cultivating GM crops, cost effectiveness of vaccines and allocation of scare public health resources during epidemics.

About the author

Prof Mercy Devasahayam has published extensively on popular science issues and has immense experience in ethical issues relating to transgenic technology and public acceptance with news reports in various national dailies such as the North India Patrika, India’s oldest news sheet, The Pioneer, Hindustan Times, Dainik Jagran, United Bharat, Amar Ujala, Hindustan, Amrit Prabhat etc. She has run a public awareness campaign on the safety of Bt genetically modified crops through the local media. Among other lectures Prof Mercy Devasahayam has lectured on ethical issues relating to medicine and transgenic technology at the prestigious International Conference on Genomic Sciences, entitled “Biosafety profiling and risk assessment of therapeutics” and “Biosafetry profiling and Risk Assessment of Transgenics and Therapeutics” at the National seminar on “Biotechnology for human and social welfare” held by Yash Krishi, Takniki Evam Vigyan Kendra, Allahabad. Prof Mercy Devasahayam has also given a lecture at the National Symposium “Advances in Transgenic Technology and Its impact on the economy” held at the Sam Higginbottom Institute of Agriculture Technology and Sciences, Allahabad on “Biosafety of food derived from livestock generated by transgenic technology”.
Prof. (Dr.) Mercy Devasahayam is a recipient of a material transfer agreement with the Agricultural Research Service, US Department of Agriculture for the development of transgenic cattle resistant to infectious disease mastitis. In addition she is also a recipient of a material transfer agreement with the National Research Center on Plant Biotechnology, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi on the development of Bt food crops. She is an alumnus of the University of Delhi, the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi and the University of Oxford, UK.
MedicalNews, a www.healthcarecommunicationonline.com online publication started in May 2009 by Prof Mercy Devasahayam with the adage “To communicate fail not”.

Prof (Dr.Miss) Mercy Devasahayam is a molecular biologist presently working on transgenic biotechnology at the Sam Higginbottom Institute of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences, Naini, Allahabad,Uttar Pradesh 211007, India.

The right of Mercy Devasahayam to be identified as the author of the work has been asserted by her in accordance with section 13 of the copyright act 1957, Government of India. The copyright for the way in which the online medical news journal Medicalnews, medicalnews.healthcare communicationonline.com reports news of recent medical interest is copyright protected under section 13 of the copyright act 1957, Government of India. The author has made every reasonable effort to acknowledge copyright owners and wishes to be informed by any copyright owners who are not properly identified and acknowledged for any necessary corrections.