Health Minister Siti Fadillah Supari on Friday called the country’s medical institutions to carry out their own virus and DNA research free of foreign funding so as to avoid exploitation from developed countries and the possibility of a future biological attack against the nation.
“I’m truly afraid the world will use our viruses or DNAs to create a mass biological weapon that may be used to attack us,” she said.
Supari surprised the world when she abruptly stopped sending bird flu virus samples to the World Health Organization in 2007. Supari said the WHO wanted the virus to create an effective bird flu vaccine using the Indonesian strain but offered nothing in return.
She said Indonesia was perceived by many countries as both a potential object of exploitation and a promising market for new vaccines. The minister said that the virus samples were given for free but Indonesia had to later purchase the vaccine — developed using those samples — at high prices.
“They wanted me to send the virus because the Indonesian strain of the H5N1 is the strongest and they might produce a better bird flu vaccine by researching it,” she said. H5N1 is the virus strain that causes bird flu.
Supari said that all research conducted in Indonesia should abide by a decree she issued in 2008 governing the use of biological substances, including viruses or DNA samples.
She said the decree was issued to reduce Indonesia’s dependency on foreign funding especially for research of potentially pandemic diseases such as bird flu.
“Trust me on this one, there is no such thing as free help. When people offer big money to help you, they undoubtedly expect to benefit from it,” Supari said.
Supari said Indonesia should ideally be able to research its own viruses and produce its derivative products without having to depend on foreign intervention. She said that by being independent and mastering Indonesia’s own strain of viruses, the country would have stronger bargaining power in the world.
The minister said that she did not want a repeat of the small pox “incident”.
“WHO in 1985,” she said, “ordered all countries to close down research unit and laboratories of smallpox vaccines including in Indonesia, but in 2005 suddenly WHO ordered every country to purchase WHO-approved small pox vaccines that cost Indonesia Rp 600 billion [Rp 51 million].”
Supari urged Indonesian scientists and researchers to conduct their research independently and pledged that the Ministry of Health would try its best to help fund their projects.
“I will provide the funding but please play by the rules that all research must be conducted through the ministry,” she said.
Ratna Sitompul, dean of medical faculty of state University of Indonesia, said she had “no problems working without foreign funding, as long as the ministry agrees to provide financial assistance.”
The production of bird flu vaccines has had its controversies. In 2005, it was alleged that four companies responsible for the production of the vaccine had produced inferior quality vaccines in order to inflate profits.
Indonesia, which has stopped announcing bird flu deaths as they occur, has the world’s highest death rate from the disease at 119.
The smallpox virus was declared eradicated in 1980 and WHO called on all nations to destroy their virus stocks. However, due to post-9/11 fears of biological terrorism, it was decided to make the vaccine available to vulnerable countries.
Agus Purwadianto, head of the health ministry’s research and development agency said that researchers or institutions refusing to abide by the decree would have to face the consequences.
“We may revoke a researcher’s or institution’s license if they insist on conducting research that may harm the country’s sovereignty and we won’t recognize findings from the research,” he said. and the equipment we need.
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