Council adopts specific programme on quality of life and management of living resources
The Council of the European Union has decided to address the quality of life and the management of living resources in the Fifth Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development (RTD) in a Decision on 25 January 1999 adopting a specific programme for the period up to 31 December 2002. The amount for carrying out the specific programme is 2,413 million euro (see details below), with a maximum of 6.5% for the Commission's administrative expenditure. Article 5 of the Decision requires the Commission to draw up a work programme, which includes the objectives and RTD priorities, in particular for six key actions as follows. - (i) Food, Nutrition and Health. The aim of this key action is to promote the development of knowledge, technologies and methods, including prenormative aspects, based on multidisciplinary approaches to produce a safe, healthy, balanced and varied food supply for consumers covering the whole food chain thereby promoting consumer protection and contributing to the fight against diseases related to food and the immense costs to health systems arising therefrom; - (ii) Control of Infectious Diseases. The overall goal of this key action is to combat established, emerging or re-emerging infectious diseases including zoonoses, linked to old, new or mutated agents in humans or animals. This would be achieved primarily by mixing complementary expertise in transdisciplinary projects, by linking these activities to national and international organisations, and by encouraging the interface between academic research, policy-makers, health-care providers, including the interface between preclinical and clinical research, and the human and animal health-care industry; - (iii) The "Cell Factory". This key action is aimed at helping the Community's enterprises, either established or starting up, to exploit the advances made in life sciences and technology, particularly in the fields of health, environment, agriculture, agro-industries and high value-added products such as chemicals. It is aimed at the development of multidisciplinary technologies based on the exploitation of the properties of micro-organisms, plants and animals, in particular at the tissue, cellular and sub-cellular levels. The objective is to understand the versatile functioning of cells and to develop bio-reactors, bio-molecules and bio-processes with high added value capable of enhancing the quality of life and health. Being a prerequisite to the functioning of cells as minute factories, sufficient knowledge will have to be secured of their blueprint at the scale at which they operate, through underpinning contributions of structural biology, physiology, nanobiotechnology, genomics and proteomics, with the support of notably physico-chemistry, bioinformatics and biochemical engineering. To ensure the safety of new biomolecules or bioprocesses, methods will be made available for monitoring their potential impact on human and animal health, and their contribution to improving standards of environmental care. This key action should also aim at using RTD to reinforce the prenormative research by making cell cultures available as models for medicine, pharmacology, toxicology and environmental monitoring as a substitute for animal testing; - (iv) Environment and Health. The aim of this key action is to achieve a better understanding of the interactions between the genetic, physiological, environmental and social factors involved in sustaining good health and so to help reduce the adverse impact on health of changes in the environment and the workplace and the immense costs to health systems arising therefrom. It covers in particular issues such as prevention and the effects on health of air pollution, heavy metals and toxic substances, noise, climatic changes and electromagnetic radiation, as well as the effects of pollution at the workplace; - (v) Sustainable Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, and Integrated Development of Rural Areas including Mountain Areas. The aim is to develop knowledge and technologies for the production and exploitation of living resources, including forests, covering the whole production chain, taking into account the highly competitive international context and in the light of the need for adaptation to the evolution of the common agricultural and fisheries policies, whilst also providing the scientific basis for Community regulations and standards, and to promote the multi-functional role of forests and the sustainable management and utilisation of forest resources as an integral factor of rural development. - (vi) The Ageing Population and Disabilities. This key action aims to help Europe meet the challenge of the growing ageing population through RTD to underpin the development of policies and interventions to extend the quality of life and independence of older people, and to reduce the need for long-term care and its consequential costs. It gives priority to multidisciplinary RTD relating to processes leading to healthy ageing, including demographic, social and economic aspects, and to interventions leading to the postponement and improved management of disability. It aims to generate competitive advantage for a wide range of health-related industries and sectors. Details of the amount of 2,413m euro for the specific programme "Quality of Life, Management of Living Resources": - Key actions: . Food, Nutrition and Health 290m; . Control of Infectious Diseases 300m; . The "Cell Factory" 400m; . Environment and Health 160m; . Sustainable Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry 520m; . The Ageing Population and Disabilities 190m; - RTD activities of a generic nature 483m; - Support for research infrastructure 70m.