Biotechnology Gains a Political Presence JIM HOPKINS / USA Today 4aug03

Biotechnology Gains a Political Presence

JIM HOPKINS / USA Today 4aug03

SAN FRANCISCO — The biotech industry, little known in political circles 10 years ago, is becoming a Washington powerhouse. Led by the San Francisco area's Genentech, biotech firms spent more than $100 million on federal lobbying and campaign contributions the past five years alone.

mindfully.org note:

What this means is that your representatives do not represent you. And until WE THE PEOPLE stop them from taking corporate money, we will not have representation.

Nothing short of complete public funding of elections will end this corporate control of our lives. This means we have to vote for people who are not taking corporate money. That eliminates the two-headed party — Democrat/Republican. There are very few political parties that prohibit corporate donations. One is the Green Party. Whatever way one votes, remember that voting for a Dem or Rep will push our country one step closer to fascism. And we are very close already.

Biotech has a strangle-hold on academia as well. At the University of California, the industry is making it difficult to publish truthful scientific papers and for great professors to gain tenure. Ignacio Chapela at UC Berkeley is a prime example of this is. By right, he should have his tenure. But through the venomous influence of the biotech industry, it was denied. The UC system didn't even have the nerve to notify him one way or the other—whether or not he was granted tenure, even though only one judge said he should not.

More on Dr. Chapela

And the biotech industry is influencing your children at school by paying for biotech scientists to teach and do demonstrations in classrooms. They also donate classroom materials such as books and magazines.

That has given the industry a say in the Medicare debate in Congress, where it helped beat back efforts that could have cut prescription-drug prices for seniors, say campaign finance watchdog groups.

Biotech's spending is still dwarfed by other industries. In the 2002 congressional campaigns, lawyers gave candidates $36.3 million vs. $7.7 million from biotech. And the broader pharmaceutical industry has long been one of Capitol Hill's most powerful lobbies.

But pharmaceutical's offspring, biotech, is gaining ground — fast. It boosted annual spending on lobbying 50%, to $33.1 million last year from 1998, says the Center for Responsive Politics, a non-partisan watchdog group that calls the sector's political rise "meteoric."

Driving biotech's political run-up in the past 10 years:

Start-ups.
The number of U.S. biotech companies jumped 18% since 1992, to nearly 1,500 — better than the 11% growth for all firms. Including the medical-device sector, biotech has grabbed 24% of all venture capital in start-ups this year vs. an average 15% just five years ago.
Revenue
The industry's annual revenue has quadrupled in the past decade to $33.6 billion last year amid rising demand for lifesaving drugs for aging baby boomers.

Biotech favors the Republican Party. Since 1990, 71% of its campaign contributions went to Republicans, says the Center for Responsive Politics.

Underscoring biotech's growing clout: President Bush in June became the first president to address the annual meeting of the 10-year-old Biotechnology Industry Organization, the sector's main trade group.

Bush spoke about issues dear to the industry — including his proposal to spend $6 billion to develop vaccines to fight smallpox and other bioterrors.

source: http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techpolicy/2003-08-04-biotech_x.htm 4aug03

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