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In 1997, the Consultative Group on Internatinal Agricultural Research (CGIAR) made notable progress in expanding the participation of the South and of women in their governance system. There is evidence that the trend that prevailed in the first half of the 1990's is reversing and that CG members and the Boards of Trustees of the 16 International Agricultural Research Centres (IARCs) are moving, albeit slowly, to achieve a better regional ration in their various levels of governance. Much of the credit for this shift goes to CGIAR's Chair.

According to an article in the October 24th edition of Science magazine, In a new gold rush, genetics researchers are scouring odd corners of the world for families whose DNA is likely to carry interesting genes. They won't be freely sharing what they find, because their backing comes from companies like Sequana Therapeutics Inc. of La Jolla, California; Millennium Pharmaceuticals Inc. of Cambridge, Massachusetts; and Genset S.A. of Paris."

The reason why they won't share: The companies are looking to patent and profit from the DNA of remote populations. Just over a week after the Science report, on November 3, Arris Pharmaceuticals of California announced it would pay US $166 million in stock to take over Sequana, one of the highest profile human DNA prospecting companies. The merged company resulting from the Arris takeover will be called Axys Pharmaceuticals.1

The final, 107-page report prepared by the US National Bioethics Advisory Commission on human cloning, accepted by President Clinton on 9 June, sends a clear signal to the biotech industry that it can move full speed ahead to commercialize the cloning of animals, including human beings," says Pat Mooney, Executive Director of RAFI. "The Commission seems to have sidestepped all the tough ethical issues," Mooney continues, "and has reduced the broad moral debate solely to a question of safety for mother and embryo."

The CGRFA held its  7th regular session in Rome from 15-23 May, 1997. the commission's 154 member countries had 2 tasks: to continue negotiations leading to a legally-binding International Undertaking covering plant genetic resources that could become an agricultural protocol to the Biodiversity Convention, and, to maintain the momentum achieved through last year's Leipzig Conference on Plant Genetic Resources. Most commission members exceeded their own expectations regarding the International Undertaking - but they fell short of the acceptable minimum on the second objectve.