African Journal of
Biotechnology

  • Abbreviation: Afr. J. Biotechnol.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN: 1684-5315
  • DOI: 10.5897/AJB
  • Start Year: 2002
  • Published Articles: 12496

Table of Content: 30 September 2011; 10(58)

September 2011

Pharmaceutical patents and access to essential medicines in sub-Saharan Africa

  The World Trade Organisation (WTO) agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) has reawakened old arguments over the impact of the intellectual property (IP) system on public access to essential medicines. As used here, essential medicines are those needed in symptom management, palliative care, and in the treatment of infections, such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV),...

Author(s): Zinatul A. Zainol, Latifah Amin, Kamaruzaman Jusoff, Anowar Zahid and Frank Akpoviri

September 2011

The need for biosafety regulation in developing countries: Benefits and controversies

Nowadays, the rapid development of biotechnology has become a main concern for a larger part of the world. It has become one of the most promising fields which guarantee returns to businesses and offers benefits to the society. When dealing with biotechnology, the first issue that comes to mind is the safeness of the technology from tip to toe, that is, the safeness of the products of biotechnology, how they can be used...

Author(s): Zinatul A. Zainol, Latifah Amin, Noor Sharizad Rusly, Hasrizul Hashim, Nik Marzuki Sidik, Frank Akpoviri, and Rosli Ramli

September 2011

Biopiracy and states’ sovereignty over their biological resources

In the last several decades, indigenous communities had to contend with the misappropriation of their biological resources and associated traditional knowledge (TK) through the inappropriate exercise of intellectual property rights (IPRs). The advent of modern biotechnology has intensified this problem leaving indigenous communities increasingly vulnerable. As a counter measure, the Convention on Biological Diversity...

Author(s): Zinatul A. Zainol, Latifah Amin, , Frank Akpoviri, and Rosli Ramli

September 2011

Public attitude towards modern biotechnology

This article reviews the literature related to the main idea of the study, rooting from the definition of biotechnology, global status of commercialized biotechnology products, and global and local public attitudes towards modern biotechnology and past models for attitude towards modern biotechnology. The first section of the review will be the in-depth-discussion regarding the definition of modern biotechnology...

Author(s): Latifah Amin, Hasrizul Hashim, Nik Marzuki Sidik, Zinatul A. Zainol,and Nurina Anuar,

September 2011

Risk assessment of genetically modified organisms (GMOs)

Risk assessment is a procedure normally carried out prior to decision-making on the release of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) into the environment. Most countries dealing with the release of GMOs have appropriate guidelines. The objectives of this paper are to critically examine the risk assessment provisions of the Malaysian Biosafety Act (2007), and to compare it with several risk assessment provisions in the...

Author(s): Latifah Amin, Zinatul Ashiqin Zainol, Noor Sharizad Rusly, Frank Akpoviri, and Nik Marzuki Sidik,

September 2011

Effect of demographic variables on public attitudes towards genetically modified insulin

Earlier studies on public attitude and risk perception have concluded that the public’s attitudes towards biotechnology was primarily driven by several factors such as familiarity, perceived benefits, perceived risks, risk acceptance, moral concerns and encouragement. Demographic characteristics have been known to affect attitudes towards science. The purpose of this paper is to compare the attitude of the...

Author(s): Latifah Amin, Zinatul A. Zainol, Jamaluddin Md. Jahi, Abd. Rahim Md Nor, Mohamad Osman and Nor Muhammad Mahadi

September 2011

Ethical perception of modern biotechnology

Past studies have shown that successful development and commercialisation of modern biotechnology products depends heavily on public acceptance. Of the many variables studied by earlier researchers, it was found that moral acceptability was an important predictor of support for biotechnology. The purpose of this paper is to examine the ethical perception of modern biotechnology among the public in the Klang Valley...

Author(s): Latifah Amin, Noor Ayuni Ahmad Azlan, Hasrizul Hashim, and Jamil Ahmad,

September 2011

Awareness and knowledge on modern biotechnology

  Biotechnology has been considered as a very important industry in helping Malaysia to achieve its goal of becoming a highly industrialized nation by 2020. Thus, assessment of people’s knowledge and awareness on biotechnology is very important and according to a theory on decision making, people only form attitudes about technologies when they have acquired relevant information. The...

Author(s): Latifah Amin, Noor Ayuni Ahmad Azlan, Mohd Fadhli Hamdan, Abdul Latif Samian and Mohamad Sabri Haron

September 2011

Ethical perception of cross-species gene transfer in plant

Plants can be genetically modified through a variety of methods in the hope that it will be improved in some way to increase the yield and quality of a crop, or to add nutritional value or shelf life. The development of genetically modified (GM) rice to enrich its nutritional value, such as Vitamin C might involve gene transfer across different species. The purpose of this paper is to examine how the public in the Klang...

Author(s): Latifah Amin, Noor Ayuni Ahmad Azlan, and Hasrizul Hashim,

September 2011

Ethical perception of synthetic biology

Modern biotechnology has moved forward by the introduction of the synthetic biology technique. By using synthetic biology, it is possible to construct mice genes in the laboratory and replace the need for the genes to be split out from the original animal. The purpose of this paper is to examine how the public in the Klang Valley region of Malaysia, perceive the ethical aspects of genetically modified (GM) rice which...

Author(s): Latifah Amin, Noor Ayuni Ahmad Azlan, Jamil Ahmad, Hasrizul Hashim, Abdul Latif Samian and Mohamad Sabri Haron

September 2011

Risks and benefits of genetically modified foods

There are claims that fear towards new technology has been caused by the lack of information and education on the subject to the public. Modern biotechnology and its applications have been receiving the same criticism. Thus, the objective of this study is to analyze the trends and coverage of genetically modified food (GMF) related issues available in an online database. In order to achieve this, GMF-related articles (n...

Author(s): Latifah Amin, Fadhli Hamdan, Roosfa Hashim, Mus Chairil Samani, Nurina Anuar , , Zinatul A. Zainol, and Kamaruzzaman Jusoff

September 2011

Ethical perception of human gene in transgenic banana

Transgenic banana has been developed to prevent hepatitis B through vaccination. Its production seems to be an ideal alternative for cheaper vaccines. The objective of this paper is to assess the ethical perception of transgenic banana which involved the transfer of human albumin gene, and to compare their ethical dimensions across several demographic variables. A survey was carried out in the Klang Valley region from...

Author(s): Latifah Amin, Noor Ayuni Ahmad Azlan, and Jamil Ahmad,

September 2011

Biotechnology issues in four Malaysian mainstream newspapers

Biotechnology has been identified as the new engine of growth for the transformation of Malaysia into a developed nation by 2020. The objective of this paper is to analyze the impact of National Policy on biotechnology on media reporting in four Malaysian newspapers. Towards this end, a content analysis of four Malaysian mainstream newspapers (that is, Utusan Malaysia, Berita Harian, New Straits Times and The Star) over...

Author(s): Mus Chairil Samani, Nurul Ilyana Rezali, Latifah Amin, and Zaharah Hassan,