Scientists in Latin America struggle to get key chemicals and other reagents for experiments. A group has begun to help
Source: Science
For his experiments monitoring heavy metal pollution in aquatic environments, Daniel Guerra Giraldez relies on large amounts of a common lab enzyme that is sensitive to mercury in water. But he could only buy the enzyme through one U.S.-based company. That made it very expensive for a researcher in his country—about $1000 for a 6-month supply—with at least $1000 more for shipping on top of that, says Guerra Giraldez, a molecular biologist at Cayetano Heredia Peruvian University in Lima, Perú. And if he wanted to produce the enzyme himself, a different U.S. company that makes the equipment for producing it would only work with local brokers, who would then charge him three times the catalog price for it.
Companies don’t see scientists in the Global South as big customers, he says, adding that even after paying an exorbitant price, unreliable shipping could mean the chemical arrives in unusable shape. “Researchers like me do not represent a significant share of the market, so we are not worth the investment of time, money, and hassles.”
Guerra Giraldez is unfortunately not alone among researchers in the Global South struggling to access reagents—the biological compounds, chemicals, and other substances that are key to common lab methods—and equipment for innovative experiments. They are impeded not only by the practicality of shipping these chemicals from wealthy nations to various parts of less wealthy countries, but also by the high cost of these essential supplies. Besides equipment, enzymes, buffers, and other essential substances for experiments can cost twice as much as in the Global North.
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