Almost a decade ago, biotechnology was recognized as one of the engine growths of Malaysian economy. Various plans and policies were introduced by the government to materialize the dream of transforming Malaysia into a biotechnology hub. It is needless to say that the awareness level of the general public on biotechnology is one of the essential elements for the development of the local biotechnology industry. Well, is the awareness level of the general public sufficient in order not to be left out in the arena of biotechnology?

“It is vital for the key players from the biotechnology industry to come forward in creating public awareness on biotechnology” said Dr. Adeline Ting, a lecturer and also a researcher at Monash University. Dr. Adeline graduated with a PhD in plant pathology from Universiti Putra Malaysia. She developed the passion for agricultural biotechnology majoring in plant protection during her varsity years, and is now actively involved in agricultural and environmental microbiology researches.

Dr. Adeline Ting

Just like any other active researchers, Dr. Adeline was enthusiastic about the findings of her research and has the intention of availing them to the public. She managed to publish her research for academic reading through science journals which mainly targeted the scientific community, but did not get to share it with the non-scientific community, that is the public. “Although it is a long way to go from having develop a technology in the laboratory to the commercialization stage, it would be good to keep the public informed on the current biotechnological research and breakthroughs, even at the developmental stages,” she said.

“As researchers, it is our duty to establish valid data and this may take years. But at least, the public is informed that there are such projects going on and that biotechnology is the core of many of these researches. For example, Jatropha curcas as biofuel alternative to oil palm. Investigations are on-going on the feasibility of this plant as biofuel source and different groups of scientists are working to look into the micropropagation and oil profile of J. curcas, but the public may not be aware of this,” she added. “It is obvious that the media is one of the main sources of information for the public, thus we hope they would project our activities more which unfortunately does not happen frequently” she added.

“I believe there is a solution in bridging the gap between the scientists and the media. One best way would be to produce more science communicators especially from the science field so that the dissemination of information related to biotechnology will not face obstacles” claimed Dr. Adeline. “It would also be interesting for researchers to be trained to communicate and to handle the media. Each institution could form a panel to train their researchers on ways to communicate especially with the media” said Dr. Adeline. She continued by saying that the training can also be conducted by agencies which are relevant to their research.

“Nevertheless, the science communicators must have the credibility in educating the public on biotechnology without misleading information. For example there was an article in a local newspaper stating that it is beneficial to use microbial elements for household purposes without stating the precautions to be taken, although we know presence of microbes and their mismanagement could be harmful to our health” said Dr. Adeline. It is therefore utmost important that the science communicators are well trained in both processing science information and putting them in right words to avoid misleading information.

“I hope that there will be more science communicators in the coming future such as Malaysian Biotechnology Information Centre (MABIC) who can play vital roles in creating awareness on biotechnology amongst the general public and various stakeholders. This is an important matter to be looked at as we know that biotechnology brings benefits to humankind which has to be realised. One good example would be in-vitro fertilisation (IVF), part of biotechnology that contributed to new lives which would have been impossible without the emergence of biotechnology” Dr. Adeline stressed. She added by suggesting that the media could come forward acting as the scientists' mediator in supportive ways in order for them to be updated with the latest development in research and development (R&D) of science.

With such communication gap between the media and scientists, there will be deficiency of knowledge among the public on biotechnology. In order to bridge the gaps, the key players should be connected and this will enable them to work together towards science literate population and enhanced public acceptance of biotechnology.