Difference between revisions of "Klaus Ammann"

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(Affiliations)
(Affiliations)
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*[[Gensuisse]], a GM promotion group funded by the pharmaceutical industry body  
 
*[[Gensuisse]], a GM promotion group funded by the pharmaceutical industry body  
 
*[[Interpharma Internutrition]] - a lobbying group for GM foods funded/sponsored by the food industry (e.g. Nestle) and chemical/GM companies [[Monsanto]], [[Hoffmann LaRoche]], [[DuPont]], and [[Syngenta]] -- board member
 
*[[Interpharma Internutrition]] - a lobbying group for GM foods funded/sponsored by the food industry (e.g. Nestle) and chemical/GM companies [[Monsanto]], [[Hoffmann LaRoche]], [[DuPont]], and [[Syngenta]] -- board member
*[[European Federation of Biotechnology]] an organisation of scientists wishing to promote biotechnology, which has an extensive corporate membership<ref>European Federation of Biotechnology Website [http://www.efbweb.org/who/organi1.htm About Us: Members], Accessed June 16th 2007</ref> -- Executive Board
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*[[European Federation of Biotechnology]] – Executive Board. EFB is an organisation of scientists wishing to promote biotechnology. It has an extensive corporate membership<ref>European Federation of Biotechnology Website [http://www.efbweb.org/who/organi1.htm About Us: Members], Accessed June 16th 2007</ref> --  
*Bio-Scope -- former co-editor (this was a Frankfurt-Bern website, supported by GM industry group EuropaBio, although as of June 2009 the website appeared to be defunct)
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*Bio-Scope -- former co-editor. Bio-Scope was a Frankfurt-Bern website, supported by GM industry group EuropaBio, although as of June 2009 the website appeared to be defunct)
  
 
==Activities==
 
==Activities==

Revision as of 09:52, 10 June 2009

Klaus Ammann (born 6 December 1940) was Director of the Botanical Garden at the University of Bern, Switzerland until his retirement in February 2006. Ammann, together with John Beringer, Julian Kinderlerer, Alan McHughen and Mark Tepfer, founded the International Society for Biosafety Research (ISBR). Ammann is an editor of Environmental Biosafety Research, the journal published by the ISBR.

Studies and scientific work

  • studied at the University of Bern (Switzerland)
  • 1972: Dissertation about vegetation history
  • 1976: Reader at the Geobotanical Institute, Bern
  • 1996-2006: director of the Botanical Garden, University of Bern
  • 2003: Sabbatical at Missouri Botanical Garden, USA
  • 2006: retirement
  • 2006-07: visiting lecturer in biosafety and corporate ethics at Delft University of Technology[1], where he was part of the Working Group on Biotechnology and Society, together with Piet van der Meer. The Public Research & Regulation Initiative (PRRI) Secretariat is hosted by the Delft University of Technology. PRRI describes its aim as being
to inform researchers, policymakers, regulators and the general public about public research in modern biotechnology. PRRI does this in various ways: producing briefing papers, organising seminars, and answering questions about public research in modern biotechnology.[2]

PRRI's EU Commission-funded project Science4BioReg is also located at Delft Univerity of Technology. Ammann is chair and coordinator of the Science4BioReg's Ask Force.[3] Ask Force is a collaborative initiative by PRRI and the European Federation of Biotechnology (EFB).[4]

This is how PRRI describes the role of Ask Force on its website:

On this 'ASK-FORCE' page, PRRI discusses publications about biosafety and biotechnology that have gained much public attention but which are not supported by peer reviewed scientific research.

inform and involve the public research sector in discussions on international agreements and regulations on biotechnology, and on the other it will inform policy makers, regulators and the general public about the objectives and progress in public research in agricultural biotechnology.[5]

Affiliations

Activities

Ammann, together with CS Prakash and others, signed an 'Open Letter to the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development' (April 2000).[7] The letter warned the Commission against "needless over-regulation" of GM on the grounds of "the very real threat that an overly-strict adherence to precautionary regulation could pose to both the environment and to the well being of human populations around the world."

Ammann edits a pro-GM e-mail list and played a leading role together with CS Prakash in circulating and encouraging the attacks on Quist and Chapela and their paper on Mexican maize contamination published in Nature.

References

  1. ^European Federation of Biotechnology Website About Us: Members Last Accessed June 16th 2007
  2. ^ The European Association for Bioindustries Homepage Last Accessed 16th June 2007
  3. ^ AgBioWorld 24th April 2000 An Open Letter to the United Nations Commissionon Sustainable Development Last Accessed 16th June 2007

Notes

  1. "Profile of Prof Klaus Ammann, EuropaBio website, accessed June 9 2009
  2. "Ask Force", PRRI website, accessed 9 June 2009
  3. "Science4BioReg", PRRI website, accessed 9 June 2009
  4. "Ask Force", PRRI website, accessed 9 June 2009
  5. "Ask Force", PRRI website, accessed 9 June 2009
  6. European Federation of Biotechnology Website About Us: Members, Accessed June 16th 2007
  7. AgBioWorld 24th April 2000 An Open Letter to the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development accessed 16 June 2007