Protesters gear up to oppose biotech convention


     NEW YORK, June 20 (Reuters) - Warning of ``designer babies'' and
``frankenfoods,'' opponents of genetic engineering are gearing up to 
protest what they call a dangerous and unpredictable technology as 
scientists from around the world meet in San Diego starting this weekend.

     As the scientists, corporations, researchers and investors discuss
the next step in understanding human genetics, protesters will hold 
meetings to oppose what some of them described as the ``corporate 
colonization of life itself.''

     The annual convention of the Biotechnology Industry Organization is
expected to draw hundreds of people to seminars discussing science, 
technology, finance, communications and management over four days.

     Buoyed by the success of protests against the World Trade
Organization meeting in Seattle in 1999, groups such as the Ruckus 
Society plan mass demonstrations to disrupt the meetings.

     The biotechnology industry is used to protests. Farmers who grow
genetically enhanced crops have had their fields destroyed, and major 
corporations such as Novartis AG (NOVZn.S) of Switzerland have been 
pressured into selling off their agricultural biotechnology businesses.

     So far, companies experimenting with the genetic engineering of
drugs have escaped censure. Industry experts say that's because consumers 
see direct benefits to themselves from the development of new and effective 
drugs, even if biologically produced.

     Even so, there are enough questions about genetic engineering of
any sort for opposition groups to put a brake on scientific development. 
Greenpeace, the environmental group that orchestrated opposition to 
genetically enhancedm crops, has shown that it doesn't take an army 
to create a panic.

     Once fears have been raised, it is difficult for companies to fight
back. Pharmaceuticals company American Home Products Corp. (AHP.N) acquired 
Monsanto Co. (MON.N) an agricultural biotech company, only to spin it off again
amid growing public fears of so-called ``frankenfoods,'' foods that have
been genetically enhanced to improve their nutritional characteristics or 
to resist insects and pesticides.

     Critics of gene manipulation in medicine hope to have the same
impact on the pharmaceuticals industry. The Ruckus Society, which has been 
preparing its members for protest at week-long ``biojustice'' training 
camps outside San Diego, says it is planning a ``nonviolent confrontation 
with the audacious and unaccountable biotech juggernaut.''

     It plans to hold its meetings on street corners, in parks and in
churches.

     The protest is the fifth in five years directed at the biotechnology 
organization's annual meeting.

     Already, fears about cloning and eugenics, or ``designer babies,''
spawned by the ability of scientists to identify foetuses carrying 
certain genes for life-threatening diseases, are gaining ground. 
If a human embryo is modified to contain, say, a gene from a rat, 
the potential outcry could make public antipathy towards genetically 
modified food look tame.

     Yet it could be years before scientists fully understand the role
and function of specific genes. In the meantime they must sort, store 
and analyze three billion bases comprising the human genome, tens of 
thousands of genes and millions of gene variations.

     To do this they need ever-more sophisticated computers. Companies
such as IBM Corp. (IBM.N) see biotechnology as the next frontier and 
are looking to form partnerships with biotechnology companies.

     There's always, too, a need for money. Last year the capital
markets were throwing money at biotechnology companies, just as they 
were throwing it at high-technology and telecommunications companies. 
This year, following the bursting of the dot-com bubble, the mood 
is very different. The capital markets, for biotech companies, have dried
up. While many companies still have enough cash to last them two years
or more, they don't necessarily have enough to finance expensive clinical 
trials. That could lead to a new round of partnerships, and some mergers and
acquisitions, experts say.

     The Biotechnology Industry Organization represents nearly 1,000
companies from around the world. Many will be given the opportunity to 
introduce themselves to investors for the first time. More familiar 
companies will take the opportunity to cement relationships, develop 
new funding sources and meet the press.