Sir,
Regarding ‘Greens embrace enzymes in climate change fight‘:
This is a serious issue and is much like that of genetically-modified organisms.
Using enzymes to disrupt biomass is tantamount to opening up the proverbial ‘Pandora’s box”. You do not know the consequences and you do not know where it will end.
It is all very well for companies to [...]

Sir,
Regarding ‘Algae: The ultimate biofuel‘:
Because microalgae can, in principle, be easily and quickly propagated, these organisms have been the focus of applied research investigating the generation of valuable biomass.
Decisive factors in the rising intersts for algae include its ability to accommodate large quantities of lipids under certain circumstances, and the possibility to propagate microalgae in [...]

Sir,
Regarding ‘Algae: The ultimate biofuel‘:
Your section headed “no competition for land” ends by describing algae as “ending the potential for conflict with food production which comes with increased energy crop cultivation”.
We’d all like this to work, but let’s not get carried away. If this could work profitably there would be the incentive to do [...]

Sir,
Regarding ‘EU policymaking: Rooted in science?‘:
I really do think that politicians will arguably look to their interests in winning votes before anything else. We can sadly translate this into he who better lobbies or markets his ideas the right way will decide the future (although this is unproven).
The ‘precautionary principle’ adds to this that responsibilities [...]

Sir,
At the Association for Competitive Technology (ACT) we have been relentlessly fighting for a Community patent for the past five years. We’re happy to see UEAPME joining us in carrying the flag for this important cause. Innovative SMEs can only benefit from the improvements that a one-stop shop for patent protection across Europe would bring: [...]

Sir,
Regarding ‘Risk consultant: EU R&D hostage of ‘eco-religious fundamentalism’‘
I just came across the interview with Mr. Zaruk, and must say that I was appalled and scared when reading his views. But on the other side, he only expresses himself as what he is, a former lobbyist of the chemical industry more interested probably in pushing through private [...]

Sir,
Regarding your LinksDossier ‘Algae: the ultimate biofuel‘ and interview ‘EABA: Promises and challenges of algae biofuels‘:
There are more issues than just costs (which are mentioned in the interview). There is doubts about the net energy balance (energy needed to get the energy out) and serious concerns about the environment.
For some of the critical voices, see [...]

Sir,
MEPs have backed a series of measures that could set animal protection in Europe back decades. Members of the European Parliament’s agriculture committee voted through a number of amendments that seriously weaken proposals from the European Commission to regulate animal testing across Europe.
This is a tragedy. MEPs are claiming to protect laboratory animals whilst simultaneously [...]

Sir,
Regarding ‘Strauss: Europe ‘wasting billions’ by duplicating research‘:
The EU only funds only a small proportion of research in Europe. It would be bad for fundamental research in Europe if it were possible to carry out a single type of research in a single laboratory, instead of using several independent groups, because the most important findings [...]

Sir,
Regarding ‘MEP: European research grants becoming ‘unattractive’‘:
From a practical experience, the European Federation of Nurses Associations (EFN) agrees that applying for EU funds, especially for NGOs, is almost impossible.
This holds for DG Research and DG Sanco, although the agency dealing with DG Sanco projects is more transparent. Nevertheless, the paperwork stays the same.
The same holds [...]