Indonesia: The Stupid, it Burns

The Stupid. It Burns!" I don’t know where this Simpson-esque phrase comes from, but The Stupid burns pretty bright in the brains of Republican Governors Mark Sanford and Bobby Jindal who are refusing stimulus money for unemployment compensation even though their states have some of the highest unemployment rates in the nation. That’s stupid. Like refusing help with avian influenza even if you have more cases of the disease than anywhere in the world. The Stupid isn’t just an American disease.

Take Indonesian Health Minister Siti Fadillah Supari. Please.

Source: plognark

Indonesian Health Minister Siti Fadillah Supari has called on the country’s medical institutions to carry out their own virus and DNA research free of foreign funding - to avoid “exploitation” from developed countries and the possibility of a future biological attack against the world’s largest Muslim 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 Organisation in 2007. She reasoned that the WHO wanted the virus to create an effective bird flu vaccine using the Indonesian strain but offered nothing in return.

“Indonesia is 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 a high price.

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.

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.

“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. (Alice Kok, Futuregov)

"There is no such thing as free help." Of course there is, but in this case the help is being offered and virus isolates sought for a real and tangible benefit to the rest of the world: warning about and devising the means to protect against a dangerous virus with pandemic potential. We’ve been clear that there need to be adjustments in the way intellectual property is handled for matters of global infectious disease concern. So Indonesia and other countries have a point. Just not the point that the Health Minister is making.

We’ve posted on this so often I have The Stupid fatigue (a few of many here, here, here, here, here, here). So I can hardly summon the energy to tap the keys again, but here’s some more:

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.

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 recognise findings from the research,” he said.

The Stupid, it Burns.