PALME TO PROVIDE REGIONAL INDUSTRY WINDOW SAYS DESERT BEAT

Dubai: June 30, 2002 keralamonitor.com Pro Audio Light Middle East (PALME), the region's first dedicated professional sound and lighting communication showcase, has signed up its first three exhibitors - Desert Beat, Avolites Middle East and Seven Stars Events and Production company.

UAE company Desert Beat believes the vertical trade show's arrival on the regional seen could not have come at a better time. "The regional audio and lighting sector has reached a point now where it requires a dedicated industry forum," said Jamal Sirhi, owner of Desert Beat.

Taking place at the Dubai International Exhibition Centre from February 16-18 next year, the show will draw upon IIR Exhibitions', organisers of PALME, global expertise in the Audio and Lighting trade show arena.

The highly specialised show targets manufacturers, distributors, rental companies and installers of groundbreaking sound and light technology and will be a regional forum for industry professionals.

"Industry response to the launch of PALME has been encouraging. According to industry feed back an event of PALME's ilk is long over due in this region," said Iain McLean, Project Manager, PALME. "While Desert Beat is the first official signing, an additional two companies quickly signed on, with another 18 companies reserving space including Harman Middle East, one of the industry's major players.

Although only a year old, Desert Beat has already secured regional distribution rights for international brands such as Chauvet Lighting, Reloop and Odyssey Gear and has carved itself a niche in the mobile DJ market.

According to Sirhi, the mobile DJ sector is the crest of the growing audio and lighting wave. "A lot of people are steering towards house parties so the demand for mobile entertainment such as mobile DJs is on the increase."

"Decreasing equipment costs also make this business more viable. The bottom line is people love entertainment. What gives a DJ an edge over competitors is an ability to deliver a unique experience. Audio and lighting technology plays a key role in meeting this challenge. Differentiation is becoming a key factor in the success of our customers. The arrival of PALME could not have come at a better time," he said.

Desert Beat will use PALME to raise industry awareness of its services as well as to introduce its vision of the future of mobile DJ-ing in the Middle East. "During PALME we will be showcasing live DJ performances and light shows as well as Salsa dancing," said Sirhi. Joining Desert Beat at the three-day event is Abu Dhabi-headquartered professional lighting equipment specialist Avolite Middle East, with a 180 square metre from-of-house stand, and Seven Stars Events and Production company.

Testing medicines on Animals : Good Laboratory practices

Medicine and scientific research cannot exist in isolation. Each new medicine has to be tested either on animals or tissues cultured in laboratories before they are tested on human beings and eventually accepted as treatment for any disease. At present, for most of the tests there is no option other than carrying them out on animals. Thus a scientifically well managed animal house holds the key to research findings capable of validation, and subsequently culminating into drugs, formulations and vaccines that assure effective human health protection.

The norms contained in the Manual ‘Good Laboratory Practices’ (GLP), which has been prepared by eminent scientists drawn from prestigious national institutions of science can guide the laboratories on keeping their animal houses properly so that they can get maximum benefit of the animals.

It has been proved beyond doubt that proper health and hygiene of animals is required not for the sake of animals but for the sake of science. As a scientist one is aware that if the animals are under stress or are sick the research conducted on them is going to be meaningless. Stress affects hormone levels in all animals including human beings leading to changes in the functioning of vital organs including the immune system and brain. This is sure to interfere with and affect the results in a big way. There is no way to know if the changes in the physiology or pathology of an animal are due to the experiment or simply an effect of the stress it was already going through due to illness, malnutrition or unfamiliar conditions. Similarly, experiments conducted on stray animals with unknown age, breed, health and genetic background will give results that cannot be validated. A monkey with tuberculosis - as is the case with most of them in Indian laboratories- cannot give scientists any results for any other medicine.

Experiments on animals, especially in Government-aided institutions, involve expenditure of public funds. Hence proper utilisation of these funds has to be ensured by avoiding wasteful expenditure on duplicate and repetitive research. It is better to support a small number of more relevant experiments rather than funding a large number of experiments. In one leading laboratory research for AIDS was being done using a strain of SIV that has already been rejected by researchers elsewhere in the world. Likewise there are cases of experiments that have already been done repeatedly in other laboratories and of experiments unnecessarily done on animals when alternatives were available.

To ensure effective implementation of the rules under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1960, the Government constituted a Committee for the Purpose of Control and Supervision on Experiments on Animals (CPCSEA) in 1963. The present Committee comes under the Animal Welfare Division and is the largest in size and the most broad-based one with representatives from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Department of Bio-Technology, Indian Council for Medical Research, Central Drug Research Institute, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Drug Controller General, Indian Institute of Science and Veterinary Council of India. Thus the CPCSEA is represented by all sections of the scientific community and decisions are taken with the approval of the Committee. Top scientists from these member institutions sat together and laid down some norms on the maintenance of their own animal houses and experiments carried out on the animals in their laboratories.

Unfortunately, the purpose of the committee has been misunderstood by some scientists and the public by and large. It is being attacked for the wrong reasons – for bringing out the pathetic conditions of animal houses and their inmates in renowned public and private sector scientific institutions and pharmaceutical industries. The role of the CPCSEA is not to cause any hindrance to scientific research involving experiments on animals but to ensure that animals are maintained in a proper manner; they are not subjected to unnecessary pain or suffering before, during and after experiments on them. There is neither any unnecessary sacrifice of animals for the sake of science nor is there any duplication of research. Animals are procured from registered breeders and kept in pathogen-free environment to ensure proper data collection. The Committee also ensures that experiments on large animals are avoided when it is possible to achieve the same results by experiments on small laboratory animals.

The Breeding and Experiments on Animals (control and Supervision) Rules 1998 also provides for an Animal Ethics Committee in every institution that is conducting research on animals. It ensures that all these rules and guidelines are implemented effectively in the laboratories. This is a scientific body nominated by the head of the institution. This Committee includes a biological scientist, two scientists from different biological disciplines, a veterinarian, the scientist in-charge of animal facility, a scientist from outside the institute, a non-scientific member with social awareness and a nominee of appropriate regulatory authority of the Government of India.

In the Committee, there is a well laid down procedure for clearance of all the projects involving animals. All the projects involving small animals are normally cleared by the Institutional Animal Ethics Committee itself. If at any point, clarification is needed, the case is referred to the CPCSEA or the appropriate sub-committee for a final decision. Similarly, all the proposals involving large animals are cleared by a sub-committee, consisting of nationally and internationally known experts.

Over the last two years, the Committee has conducted more than 350 inspections of various institutions/laboratories throughout the country. In many institutions/laboratories monkeys were found to be suffering from skin diseases, missing limbs and paralysis. Many of them had been in cages for upto 15 years. In one case the researchers had cut off their hands so that they would not be scratched while taking them out of their cages. Cages of rats and mice were found to be filthy and overcrowded. Feed was mixed with excreta. Cannibalism was rampant because of the lack of food. The rooms were filthy, airless, without electricity and unhygienic. Animals were inbred and many had gaping wounds. Proper quarantine facilities were also missing in many institutions. Even the record keeping in the animal houses of various institutions which costs no money was extremely poor. However, as a result of these inspections and feedback given by the nominees of the Committee, about 100 institutions/laboratories have carried out improvements as per the guidelines andtherules.

The CPCSEA is thus aiming at implementing good laboratory practices throughout the country. The new terms of global trade in drugs and pharmaceuticals also enjoin adherence to ISO specifications. As of now toxicological data on the pharmaceutical products is not acceptable to some countries without repetitive toxicological studies. If not for altruism, then for hardcore trade and commerce, the standards of the laboratories must be raised to the standards of globally accepted good laboratory practices so that the data is acceptable to the targeted trading countries.

Rapid developments are taking place on the global scenario in finding alternatives so that animals, which are also important links in the chains of the ecosystems, are not destroyed disproportionately. The CPCSEA is also committed to implementing alternatives to animal experimentation which have been introduced internationally and to make the scientific community aware of them. The earlier we improve the standard of our institutions, the faster we meet the international challenge ahead of us.