Foot-and-mouth research at risk

Spanish investigators have warned this week that a national law governing research into the foot-and-mouth disease virus could hinder international collaborations on the development of a vaccine against the veterinary pathogen. In a letter made public last Wednesday (March 16), 135 scientists urged the government to reconsider an "incomprehensible" law that they say prevents the country's leading foot-and-mouth disease research institute from studying the causative agent.Their protest focuses on a Spanish "royal decree" published in November that aims to enact a 2003 European Commission (EC) directive to tackle foot-and-mouth disease. Scientists were surprised to find that the Madrid-based Center of Animal Health Research (CISA), which has a long tradition on foot-and-mouth disease research, was not listed in the decree as the national center on foot-and-mouth disease. Instead, the Central Laboratory of Animal Health (LCV) near Madrid was listed as the only reference center authorized to manipulate live foot-and-mouth disease virus for any purpose, including research and fabrication of vaccines. Scientists in the 20 Spanish research groups working in the field are concerned that their research cannot continue. "CISA is the only center with the right biosafety level and with active research lines on foot-and-mouth disease virus," CISA researcher Juan Bárcena told The Scientist. "This is a serious political mistake," said CISA director Esteban Domingo, noting that politics is behind the decision to leave the center off the list. "An influential group at the Farming Ministry is trying to retake control over CISA," he said. The center, launched in 1993, belonged to the Farming Ministry until 2000. Since then, it has been attached to the Science Ministry. According to Bárcena, "Some people at the Farming Ministry want a shift in the type of research currently performed in CISA." "It's said that we are too involved in basic research and that we need to engage in applied lines such a clinical trials with the aim of getting short-term results," Bárcena said. A total of 16 scientists are involved in foot-and-mouth disease virus research in CISA, with seven projects underway. "Four of these projects are European projects performed in collaboration with research centers at Belgium, United Kingdom, Italy, The Netherlands, Germany, France, and Switzerland," said Bárcena. There is a "risk that all of these will become paralyzed as a result of the royal decree," he said.These European projects, Bárcena said, are mainly devoted to designing new vaccines, including DNA-based vaccines, against the virus. "Spanish research on foot-and-mouth disease virus is pioneering at a worldwide level," the open letter says. "It ranks third in the list of research papers, after the UK and USA."CISA scientists say they were not consulted by the government about its decision not to include CISA in the Spanish decree. They also say that the EU directive allows for more than one center to be listed as reference labs, as is the case in Germany. "It would be more logical to have two reference centers in Spain," said Francisco Sobrino, a scientist at CISA and at Madrid's Molecular Biology Centre. Concha Gómez-Tejedor, LCV director, told The Scientist that she has offered her center to CISA researchers to continue their research. "What I won't tolerate is that my center is criticized as a way for CISA researchers to resolve their problems," she said.But Sobrino notes that although LCV has a right biosafety level, its facilities are not prepared to be used for foot-and-mouth disease virus research. "Their animal facility is too small compared to CISA's," he said, adding that "there is no research tradition in LCV."María Echevarría, head of the Farming General Direction, told The Scientist that although LCV is the sole reference center, CISA scientists "can continue their research on foot-and-mouth disease virus." But Bárcena said that he "distrusts her comments" and that "with the royal decree in hand, if we continue doing [such] research, we may be penalized." Yet the decree does not mention how researchers found conducting foot-and-mouth virus research in centers other than LCV would be penalized. Eva Quintanilla, a spokeswoman for the Spanish Science Ministry, said, "Our will is that CISA scientists continue their research on foot-and-mouth disease virus, and we are working together with the Farming Ministry to do so."

Foot-and-mouth research at risk

Spanish law may halt research, including international vaccine collaborations, scientists warn

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