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| French academics unite against Haifa boycott
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Haifa's Technion Campus
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A special event illustrating researchers and professors opposition to a boycott of the Technion University of Haifa united 1,800 participants at the UNESCO house in Paris on Monday.
The 2004 Chemistry Nobel prize laureate Avraham Herchko was among the speakers as well as former French Health Minister Bernard Kouchner and Jordanian minister of water Munther J. Haddadin.
Stem cell research, water share in the Middle East and the battle against cancer were the main issues debated in the special Technion event organized. Scientific and Industrial cooperation was at the core of the gathering and scientists reaffirmed their hostility to any kind of scientific boycott against Israel.
Stem cell research, water share in the Middle East and the battle against cancer were the main issues debated.
Continued cooperation
“The scientific University of Jussieu has examined a boycott of the Technion and to show our disapproval we have intensified our cooperation,” said Dr Daniel Aberdam, a research director at the French institute for health and medical research (INSERM). “We have launched a new international congress on stem cell research in Israel and we will gather again next year.”
Aberdam added that a mixed French-Israeli laboratory was about to be created by the Technion and the INSERM at the Rambam medical faculty in Haifa in September 2006.
French professor Rene Frydman saluted the Israeli pioneer work in stem cell research alongside with American universities.
Kouchner deplored the French delay in stem cell research and rebuffed the arguemnts made by French Rabbi Gilles Bernheim against human cloning.
“This is not the issue.” Said the minister “Law makers and scientists have clearly prohibited human cloning. In France we are still debating over research on stem cells. It is obvious that France is far behind other countries.”
Religious views
Jewish, Christian and Muslim religious dignitaries gave their evaluation on stem cell research on embryos that were slated for destruction.
Rabbi Gilles Bernheim gave a detailed explanation of why the Jewish religion cannot accept human cloning, stating that a clear rejection of the practice had to be given before any other type of examination.
The director general of Veolia Water participated in a discussion over the treatment and sharing of water in the Middle East and announced that his company just launched a new plant in Israel for the treatment of sea water.
Located in Ashkelon, in the south of Israel, the new site is the largest water treatment company in Israel. It functions in collaboration with Veolia’s Israeli partner IDF and is programmed to produce 108 millions of square meters in the upcoming year.
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