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Published online 16 April 2008 | 452, 787 (2008) | doi:10.1038/452787b
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Costa Rican biotech centre in peril
Government inactivity puts EU funds in jeopardy.
Costa Rica is on the verge of losing a multimillion-euro donation from the European Union (EU) to build a state-of-the-art biotech facility, because of government procrastination.
The EU put forward €10.
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This must be a first. The EU being held up by recipients bureaucracy? I think you'll find a dozen examples of the reverse for every case like this, if indeed this is the true picture.
there is a better than half speculative reason for the Costa Rican government's motives behind the procrastination. recently the nation's leaders have been playing funding 'footsies' with the People's Republic of China. this is troubling in light of the fact that historically Costa Rica has a proven longterm track record of democracy. economically the real estate boom there is out-of-control. when the crash comes this could open up that great country's citizens to further exploitation by the major powers taking advantage of the likely ensuing political unrest. then again as with many nations the political leaders are scientifically ignorant or apatheic as is the case in my home country of the United States. few realize that most science funding is not necessarliy an expenditure when wisely allocated but is in fact an investment in our civilzation's future.