Российская наука и мир (дайджест)

MOSCOW (AFP) - An international conference on climate change is to take place in Moscow from September 29 to October 3 at the initiative of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
In March, Russian ecologists said the mooted conference could be the occasion for Russia to announce a decision to ratify the Kyoto Protocol on greenhouse gases.
However "the conference will be purely scientific, and no political decision will be taken," Yury Izrael, head of the Academy of Sciences' Climate and Ecology Institute, told reporters Wednesday.
Nearly 1,200 scientists, businessmen, government officials and representatives of non-government organisations from 43 countries are expected to attend the conference. Britain, China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States are expected to send delegations.
Izrael said Russia's long-awaited ratification of the protocol setting a 2008-2012 deadline for industrialised signatories reduce their greenhouse gas emissions to below 1990 levels "has not yet been definitively decided."
A working group headed by Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Khristenko is still discussing the issue, "but there are still difficulties, particularly economic," Izrael said.
Russia is a major beneficiary of the Kyoto Protocol, the closure of many of its Soviet-era heavy industries, with their high pollution rates, since 1991 having granted it a wide margin on its quota and enabling it to sell billions of tonnes on the future emission rights market.
"If today we sell our quotas, then in 10 or 15 years, when the level of our carbon dioxide emissions rises, we'll be obliged to pay 10 times as much," Izrael noted.
The United States is refusing to sign the protocol, and Russia's ratification is essential for it to take effect.
Carbon-based greenhouse gases hang in the atmosphere like an invisible shroud, trapping solar heat rather than let it radiate safely out into space.
Scientists say that so many billions of tonnes of these gases have been spewed out, through burning oil, gas and coal, that Earth's climate system faces possibly catastrophic change in the coming decades.
Kyoto's framework was sketched in 1997, but it took four years to agree its highly complex rulebook.

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BUSINESS WIRE / May 20, 2003

Spirit Sciences Says New Russian Product Dubbed "KGB Pill" Can Protect Against Alcohol-Related Health Problems

BEVERLY HILLS Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 20, 2003--More than 1.2 million Americans die from alcohol-related health problems each year. Reports also show that the U.S. economy loses over $166 billion in medical and work-related costs directly associated with alcohol consumption, with approximately 85% of that loss being attributed to light and moderate drinkers. Now a new product called RU-21 is being imported from Russia with a hope to reduce those staggering numbers.
"We're very excited to introduce this product in the U.S. If those who consume even minimal amounts of alcohol use RU-21, it will make a real difference in public health issues related to alcohol consumption," says Emil Chiaberi, Chief Operating Officer of Spirit Sciences.
The patented RU-21 is an all-natural product that has been shown in clinical trials to be effective in preventing the harmful effects of acetaldehyde, a toxic byproduct of alcohol metabolism that has been directly linked to various types of cancer, liver cirrhosis, brain damage, sexual dysfunctions, premature aging of skin, hangovers, as well as damage to DNA cells, which causes genetic predisposition to alcoholism. RU-21 received endorsements from Russia's top scientists and health officials and is already a #1 selling product in its category in Russia, where it's been dubbed a "KGB pill," because it had once been secretly tested at a KGB laboratory in the late '80s and even remained a classified project for several years.
"The Russians love it," says Mr. Dmitry Myasnikov, the company's director of Eastern European and Russian operations. "The public has done most of the marketing for us. Almost every day we read and hear stories, comedy sketches and even songs about `KGB pill' that we had nothing to do with. The pill is also a popular subject in Internet chat rooms. It's really been wonderful."
RU-21 was developed by the scientists at the Russian Academy of Sciences after a 25-year research project studying alcohol metabolism. "Understanding and correcting alcohol metabolism is a key to reducing the risks associated with its consumption, including the development of alcoholism," says Dr. Evgeny Mayevsky, the Vice Director for Research of the Russian Academy of Science and a prominent Russian scientist who helped invent RU-21. "Alcohol-related diseases are epidemic in Russia, to the point where this problem represents a clear and present danger to our society. With RU-21, we are making a big step forward in trying to control that epidemic worldwide."
HOW RU-21 WORKS
RU-21 balances alcohol metabolism by slowing down the process of ethanol oxidation into acetaldehyde, so less acetaldehyde occurs in the first place. It then speeds up the process of acetaldehyde decomposition into acetic acid, and then into water and carbon dioxide, which are harmless. RU-21 also helps the body balance the metabolic processes in liver, heart and brain cells and increases oxygen absorption by cells. As a result, RU-21 prevents acetaldehyde from causing damage to vital organs and functions of the body, and also reduces alcohol cravings and prevents the dreaded hangovers. With millions of units sold internationally there have been no reported side effects.
Spirit Sciences is also launching a public awareness campaign called CARE (Campaign for Alcohol Responsibility and Education) to educate consumers about alcohol metabolism. According to a survey conducted by Spirit Sciences, less than 2% of U.S. consumers have adequate knowledge on this subject
RU-21 sells for $4.99 for 20 tablets or for $1.99 for 6 tablets. It has already been picked up for distribution by some of the largest U.S. natural food and supplements distributors, such as Tree of Life and Gourmet Award Foods and is scheduled to arrive in many major national chains this summer.
About Spirit Sciences
Spirit Sciences USA is a California-based company involved in the discovery, development, manufacture and marketing of breakthrough pharmaceutical and nutritional products. The company employs more than 1,000 people and its products are sold at more than 70,000 retail locations in North America, Europe, countries of CIS and Israel.

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Rosbalt / 14/05/2003

Russian Scientists Claim GM Food Is Safe

Российские ученые заявляют, что генетически модифицированная пища безопасна для здоровья

MOSCOW, -- May 14. 'The danger from genetically modified (GM) food is a nonexistent threat which is used by unprincipled politicians to scare an ignorant population,' believes Konstantin Skryabin, the director of the Bioengineering Centre of the Russian Agricultural Academy. The scientist expressed this opinion yesterday at a press conference. He stressed that scientists throughout the world have long ago concluded that GM foods do not pose a threat.
Skryabin said that compared to selection techniques from the past, genetic engineering is much less dangerous. 'Previously, selection could be compared with chaotic gunfire as a result of which hundreds of modifications occurred. Genetic engineering takes one gene, studies its properties fully, and then uses the genetic information appropriately,' explained the scientist. He also added that only 50 plants, which have undergone careful testing, are currently licensed for use. Tens of thousands of other plants developed in laboratories remain unused. According to Skryabin, the future of humankind rests in the hands of genetic engineering and molecular biology. He believes that this is the only real way to save the Earth's ecology. Skryabin also said that only molecular biology can help people to overcome famine in the future. Plants need to be altered so that they contain enough protein, fats, hydrocarbons and vitamins to feed people.
Between 1996 and 2002 the total area under cultivation of GM crops grew 35 times to 58 million hectares. These crops include corn, soya, cotton and rape. The main producers of GM crops are the US, Argentina, Canada and China. GM crops are grown in a total of 16 countries. Although European countries do not, on the whole, grow GM crops, they use them extensively in the food industry.
Cultivation of GM crops is currently forbidden in Russia. Field tests have been carried out and two types of potato have passed the state registration process and received bio-safety certificates, said Skryabin.

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Agence France Presse / Mon May 5, 12:27 PM ET

Russia, US agree to explore Mars together

MOSCOW,(AFP) - Russia and the United States have agreed to launch a joint programme of Mars exploration, officials said here after talks between the heads of the US and Russian space agencies.
The two countries "have agreed to begin joint exploration of Mars and carry out joint unmanned interplanetary station flight programmes," Sergei Gorbunov, spokesman for Russia's Rosaviakosmos space agency, told the Interfax news agency.
"In addition, it was decided that Russia can take part in US space tenders," Gorbunov added.
NASA administrator Sean O'Keefe held talks with his Russian counterpart Yuri Koptev to discuss cooperation including over the 16-nation International Space Station.
The future of the ISS will be addressed by the heads of the aerospace agencies participating in the project at a meeting in September, the two men agreed, the Russian space spokesman told ITAR-TASS.
Russia did not bring up the issue of additional US financing of the Russian space industry, he said.
The United States is relying on Russia to transport crew to and from the ISS orbiting space station because the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has suspended flights by its space shuttles following the Columbia disaster on February 1.
The grounding of the US shuttle fleet left Russia's underfunded space programme the only one capable of making manned missions to the ISS.
Russia has budgeted extra funds for the space programme over the next six months but next year it has said it cannot raise the money to construct the necessary additional Progress cargo ships and manned Soyuz craft.
NASA is refusing to finance construction of Russian spaceships to offset the freeze on US space shuttles because of a 2000 US law aimed at retaliating against Russia for allegedly transferring nuclear technology to Iran.
The United States and Russia are the biggest partners in the ISS venture.
Despite the deadlock, O'Keefe and Koptev discussed a project for a US-Russian space probe, said a top Russian space official who is working on the launch of a European space probe due to be sent up on June 2 on a Russian rocket.
"Russian and US specialists began working on the Martian project 10 years ago," Vasily Moroz from the Russian Space Research Institute told the ITAR-TASS news agency.
The two sides had considered the possibility of sending a US space probe quipped with a Russian descent module and launched with a Russian booster rocket, but financial issues had stalled work on the project, he said.
In May 2001 the Russian Space Agency announced a tender for designs for a manned flight to Mars, with experts saying they expected the final plans to be announced in 2005.
Last year Russian space experts urged their US and European colleagues to join them in launching a manned flight to Mars by 2014.
The US space agency NASA is currently engaged in small-scale studies on manned flight to Mars but has no plans for a mission.
Information obtained from unmanned flights to Mars has revealed that the planet has a very thin atmosphere and, although there is no liquid water, scientists believe it is possible the climate could sustain life in the form of micro-organisms.