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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

Sir, Regarding ‘EU spending on R&D slips further behind US‘: Maybe if the private sector did not have to spend so much complying with the constant and growing flow of EU legislation they could spend more on R&D. Charles Marriott

Sir, After the Kourou meeting, it is evident that the European Union is trying to revitalise space policy as a common goal for all member states. Their intentions are noble and their arguments sound, but they will need to get Europe’s leading industry players involved if they want to progress beyond the words alone. Any [...]

Sir, Regarding ‘Green NGO demands nanotech legislation’: Just a quick note regarding Aquanova’s statement that “there is no nanotech in what we are doing”: the company’s statements regarding their products are very contradictory. To give an example: on their website, Aquanova states : “Completely in tune with the start of the era of nanotechnology, the [...]

Sir, Regarding ‘Interview: ‘Democracy of science needed”: AltTox.org may be a prototype for the “democracy of science”. I’d like to make your readers aware of an innovative website launched in December 2007 on non-animal methods of toxicity testing, AltTox.org. This website seems to be the type of open communication forum encouraged by Professor Serres. AltTox.org is [...]