BIO 2001 International Biotechnology Conference &
Exhibition, San Diego, CA

June 23 – 27, 2001

On the road for Info.Resource, publisher of Oregon-Bioscience.com

By Lorraine Ruff, David Gabrilska and Scott Sipes
Milestones, the critical thinking company
Seattle, WA

There was some unknown number of people who made a conscious choice not to attend the 2001 International Biotechnology Conference and Exhibition last week in San Diego, who would have otherwise benefited from the experience. Among them were scientists, business executives, teachers, and citizen activists who didn’t contribute to the public debate for a branch of science that will continue to re-define drug development and food production well into the 21st century.

Their decision wasn’t about scheduling conflicts or expense. Their choice turned on safety, at the conference and after, in large part due to news reports that demonstrators would disrupt the conference using the biotechnology venue with all its significant public affairs issues as cover for destructive activities. They elected not to raise their personal or professional visibility among faceless unknowns whose agenda is more than a little suspect. According to reports from the San Diego Police Department, BIO executive staff and a number of local, non-violent activists groups, it was a choice that was made by people across political and industrial spectra.

In the aftermath of last week’s conference whose attendance was approximately 14,000 - up 30 percent over Boston the previous year - we learned that somewhere between $6 and $8 million was spent by combined San Diego County and State of California departments to ensure that anarchists would not "take over the streets" as they have done so at numerous other high profile conferences throughout the United States. San Diego Assistance Police Chief John Welter said that his department had received some criticism from all sides for the intensity of vigilance. Planning had been based on an anticipated 15,000 delegates and 2,000 – 10,000 protestors.

What did we collectively learn from the San Diego experience? Planning at the community level, on-going intelligence gathering and a strategy heavily influenced by the experiences and case histories from other communities worked, according to Chief Welter and Ray Briscuso, executive director at BIO.

Delegates were mindful of overt security measures, which included passing through layers of checkpoints manned by uniformed on- and off-duty policemen, conference volunteers and private security guards. Delegates who were not displaying conference credentials at the convention center, at a Tuesday night street dance, or in boarding private transit service between convention center grounds and hotels were challenged; loss of credentials would incur a $500 re-registration fee. Day rates were set at $995.

Local activists were permitted to gather and demonstrate, but on a limited basis. Police kept their distance but were high profile. On Sunday afternoon, several hundred peaceably demonstrated in a bull pin constructed of Jersey barriers adjacent to the front door of the convention center to protest genetically modified foods, the use of embryonic tissue in stem-cell research, and the use of animal organs and tissue in medical treatments. Earlier that day hundreds of demonstrators marched in a street parade without incident. Scientists with objections to gene-based research presented their findings at teach-ins.

Some protestors complained that the San Diego "police state" chilled peaceful demonstration. But in the end, it appears that some demonstrators pulled the punch, deciding they simply did not wish to provide human cover for anarchists who have demonstrated repeatedly at other large international conferences in major cities, such as the World Trade Organization in Seattle that resulted in 600 arrests and $2.5 million in property damage. In contrast, in San Diego you could count the number of conference-related arrests for the week before and during the conference on one hand.

From a community perspective, business was off downtown as local residents chose "somewhere else" to have dinner or recreate. Many downtown businesses participated with local police to remove clutter from premises, and to check locks and alarm systems. A very few businesses boarded their windows.

So how will this conference be remembered? Were we successful in quelling mindless acts of sensational violence? The statistics say yes. Did the planning and implementation send a message to anarchists that they are not permitted to shutdown the interchange of ideas in a country whose foundations protect public discourse? We don’t really know, but it may be a start.

We postulate that all concerned learned important lessons that will benefit collective attendees, whether credentialed or not, for some time to come. The leadership in the San Diego Police Department learned how to use intelligence to calculate risk to the public safety by understanding and managing the many diverse interests that travel to these conferences. In hindsight while it’s true that there may have been "too much" police presence in San Diego, in comparison, was there too little, too late in Seattle?

We need to remember the incalculables of this conference: it is simply true that when you assemble industry participants in a face-to-face symposium, innovation inevitably flows from the interaction. San Diego made a conscious choice to expend $6 to $8 million to host what was a crucible for innovation.

Chief Welter says that San Diego will not only share their rationale and plan with other communities, but will continue to improve on lessons learned and investments made as a result of last week, lessons that will guide planning and proactive response for events whose unregistered attendees continue to evolve as rapidly as does the science underlying the protest.

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