‘Forget the detractors; global warming is upon us’: Joe Issa Shares Alarming Facts

Advocate of environmental protection Joe Issa has expressed concerns following a recent Observer story which painted gloomy images of what Jamaica could face in the future, stating that the alarming facts have heightened belief that mankind is indeed sewing its own seeds of destruction, and people must be made aware of this.

“The article reinforced my own belief that man-made global warming is very real and we must avoid complacency when it comes to its devastating impact on Jamaica and the Caribbean,” said Issa, noting, “Mankind is indeed sewing its own seeds of destruction, and people must be made aware of the dangers.”

He argues that “scientists have been warning us for quite some time, that if we do not limit the amount of CO₂ emissions into the atmosphere we will pay the price later, in terms of lost property along our coastline as a result of rising sea level,” citing properties like hotels, restaurants and entertainment places, as well as airports and seaports.

“When you factor in the increasingly intensive weather systems that we have seen of late, which is believed to be fueled by global warming, and the resultant loss of lives and property and other resources like agriculture, livestock, fish sanctuaries, flora and fauna, this definitely begs for greater resilience and adaptation of Caribbean nations including our own,” said Issa, who was a big supporter of the 2016 Paris Conference on Climate Change (IPCC).

According to the article, a recently released study by scientists in France on global warming and its effect on sea-level rise should be cause for concern here in Jamaica and the wider Caribbean.

The report on the study quotes the lead author, Matthias Mengel — a scientist at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany — as saying that “the trajectory of emissions in the next few decades will shape our coastlines in the centuries to come”.

The scientists revealed that globally, about 40 billion tonnes of CO2 – the main cause of global warming – are released into the atmosphere every year. The emissions, which they said had held steady for three years, increased by two per cent last year; and based on current trends, the emissions could increase for at least another decade.

The scientific data showed that global temperatures have, on average, already increased by one degree Celsius since the industrial revolution began, bearing in mind that the 2016 Paris Climate Agreement, which was signed by 197 countries, requires a capping of global warming at below two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), and pursues efforts to hold it at 1.5 degrees Celsius, the newspaper reported.

Citing that the agreement also sets a threshold of “net zero emissions” by the end of the century, it noted, however, “It appears that a number of countries are struggling to hit the Paris Agreement targets, which have been described as modest, despite the fact that renewable energy is getting more affordable.”

It noted that “Brazil, for instance, is having difficulty controlling deforestation, which fuels greenhouse gas emissions, while a number of countries are looking to coal plants to meet electricity demands.

“In the United States, which has indicated that it will pull out of the Paris treaty, the Government has cut its support for clean energy and increased its backing for fossil fuels, under its ‘America first’ policy. The upshot is an expected increase in emissions by 1.8 per cent this year.

“All this will no doubt have an effect on low-lying coastal lands, including here in the Caribbean. In fact, a United Nations report released late 2010 painted an alarming picture of devastation across the Caribbean that will be caused by rising sea levels in years to come and the heavy cost to the region,” the article informed.

It cited the report stating that for just the 15 Caribbean Community member states, the damage and the necessary rebuilding as a result of sea-level rise could climb to US$187 billion by the year 2080.

“The report also suggests that a sea-level rise of one metre, which is now regarded as highly likely by the end of the century, would result in at least US$149 million in tourism resorts damaged or lost”; loss or damage of 21 Caricom airports; and the inundation of land surrounding 35 of the region’s 44 ports.

“There is much more astonishing information in the report which, we hope, is being taken seriously by Caribbean governments which should, by now, have started to implement measures — some of which have been recommended by the World Bank — to help the region resist and adapt to the effects of climate change,” the Observer article stated, noting, “The goals of the Paris Agreement are admirable, but it’s not yet a done deal and we become complacent at our peril.”

According to Wikipedia, “If a planet’s atmosphere contains radiatively active gases (i.e., greenhouse gases) they will radiate energy in all directions. Part of this radiation is directed towards the surface, warming it. The intensity of the downward radiation – that is, the strength of the greenhouse effect – will depend on the atmosphere’s temperature and on the amount of greenhouse gases that the atmosphere contains.”

It said: “The vast majority of anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions (i.e., emissions produced by human activities) come from combustion of fossil fuels, principally coal, oil, and natural gas, with comparatively modest additional contributions coming from deforestation, changes in land use, soil erosion, and agriculture.”

It has been estimated, the publication said, that “if greenhouse gas emissions continue at their present rate, Earth’s surface temperature could exceed historical values as early as 2047, with potentially harmful effects on ecosystems, biodiversity and the livelihoods of people worldwide.”

“Recent estimates also suggest that at current emission rates the Earth could pass a threshold of 2 °C global warming, which the United Nations’ IPCC designated as the upper limit to avoid “dangerous” global warming, by 2036,” Wipipedia added.

Joe Issa Wishes Happy Valentine’s Day, Good Education for All Jamaican Children

Civic-minded philanthropist and businessman Joe Issa, wishes his employees, business colleagues and friends a Happy Valentine’s Day while promoting a good education for all Jamaican children, stating “it is the surest way out of poverty – the scourge of all societies.”

Issa cautioned that “while numeracy and literacy have their uses, such as in functionality – enabling one to follow directions, dispense medicine, cook from recipes and apply agricultural or other chemicals – it is woefully inadequate to take one beyond the ‘bread line’.”

He argues that “sometimes, depending on how enabling the business environment is and the size of the household, more is needed, such as a good education, creativity and imagination, or even retraining, in order to break completely, the cycle of poverty.”

Issa said he chose ‘a good education’ as his thematic Valentine’s Day message not simply because it is the area in which his Cool Group subsidiary, Cool Charities, gives back to disadvantaged children.

As he puts it, “a good education not only opens up opportunities for gainful employment in order to provide for the basic necessities of daily living such as food, clothing and shelter, but it also prepares one to change one’s life entirely by making poverty a distant phenomenon.”

He describes a good education as one that does not merely enable school leavers to get a decent entry level job, but one which allows them to matriculate to higher education such as a college or university, and get a profession.

In 1987, while at the Londoon School of Economics, Issa founded his first charity, “Educate the Children Fund”, to buy books for disadvantaged children in Jamaica and the wider Caribbean; and a year later, he established the “Joe Issa/Holy Cross Scholarship Fund” to send bright, under-privileged students to his alma mater university in the United States.

He has hosted youth camps and disadvantaged children in the St Ann/St Mary area in which his businesses operate, and believes that schools must be progressive in order to churn out university-ready children.

It was with this in mind that he founded “Global Education 2000”, which has twined Jamaican schools with their counterparts in the United States. Several schools have benefited from these exchanges, including Three Hills All Age School in St. Mary, which was twinned with Broward Elementary School in Tampa, Florida.

Issa has described the results of the initiative as “a major development which will see an exciting, rewarding exchange of cultural ideas and thoughts between students and teachers at both institutions.”

He says much of who he is today, is due to his good fortune of having had a good education, and stated, “I wish nothing less for all Jamaican children.”

‘Monetising Education’: Celebrated Valedictorian Urges Greater Sensitisation to Entrepreneurship to Help Graduates

As the country gears for higher economic growth and employment, celebrated valedictorian Joe Issa, who made his first investment in 1995 at the age of 30 with just US$3,000 and now heads a group of over 50 companies, has said that greater sensitisation of students to entrepreneurship could help them better monetise their education.

                      

       Roderick Gordon                                                    Joe Issa

“As it is now, the country needs more entrepreneurs and the younger the better, but I don’t see it coming without sensitising graduates to entrepreneurship, and the earlier they begin to entertain the thought of becoming an employer instead of an employee, the better they will be able to assess the technical and financial viability of their chosen business.

“The importance of being able to do so, is that a bank proposal must be convincing and command an immediate positive response. It cannot be based on sentiments but on solid observable favourable trends.

“Once pitched the project must leave no room for questions and no questions means a probable immediate yes, an outcome that is more likely the earlier students are sensitised to entrepreneurship.

“The importance of getting an immediate yes is because the longer a bank takes to approve a loan the more reasons they will find to not give it,” said Issa, who has served on the board of directors of First Global bank, among other establishments.

Issa’s statements come amid concerns expressed at a recent Gleaner Editors’ Forum that “one of the things that is killing Jamaica is the inability of individuals who study, train and can’t get a job, and the complete disconnect on how to monetise their training”, according to the newspaper.

It cited Attorney-at-law Roderick Gordon, who chairs one of the companies that has the backing of First AngelsJa, making the statement in support of Chairman of First AngelsJa, Joseph M. Matalon, who had earlier said there was no shortage of investors in Jamaica for the right deals, but argued there was an “immaturity in the environmental ecosystem”.

“We don’t get enough qualified deals. We don’t get enough qualified people coming forward who have the attitude, experience, educational background, or the expertise to drive the growth of a new business,” Matalon told the Gleaner Editors’ Forum.

Gordon, who is said to get excited when the group offers support and the investment comes to fruition, reportedly said he likes “seeing the innovation come through, seeing people who are a lot more exposed.

“I have seen entrepreneurs who pitch more than once and the second pitch is vastly improved to the first. So they are learning the discipline. They are learning how to focus. They are learning what sounds good from what can make a profit. That makes me excited.”

Stakeholder PICA Likes PAJ Expansions, Says It Will Increase Economic Growth

Chairman of Passport, Immigration and Citizenship Agency (PICA) Joe Issa, says he is pleased with the planned expansion of Jamaica’s main ports, stating it will enhance tourism and commerce and the country’s growth prospects.

“Our air and sea ports are critical as trade facilitators, in both goods and services, and any improvement and expansion of those facilities can only enhance their attractiveness and increase shipcalls and throughput.

“The importance of throughput is that the more cargo and passengers the ports can move and the quicker they can do so, the higher will the overall level of trade in the country.

A section of the Kingston Container Terminal 

“And more trade means more goods passing through our ports and more commercial activities in processing, storage and dstribution, which means more opportunities for employment and business development, and ultimately, economic growth. The shippers will also benefit from shorter turnaround time.

“On the services’ side, our biggest export is tourism, with nearly half of the total visitors to Jamaica arriving at cruise ship ports in Falmouth and Ocho Rios; so any enhancement of those facilities, as well as those in Montego Bay and Portland, will improve the visitor experience; and first impression is critical in maintaining and increasing cruiseships calls, tourism revenue and employment, and by extention, in growing the economy,” said Issa.

Issa, who is said to be one of the island’s best known tourism experts, was commenting on a Gleaner report that Port Authority of Jamaica (PAJ) is to spend $15 billion over the next two years to execute several projects aimed at upgrading and improving facilities at the island’s sea ports.

In making the announcement, Minister without portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, Dr Horace Chang, praised the PAJ for its timely and successful execution of development projects.

Speaking in Falmouth, Trelawny at a stakeholder meeting, Chang reportedly said improvement works on the Falmouth cruise ship pier, the upgrade and expansion of the Reynolds Pier in Ocho Rios, and improvements to the port in Kingston are among the projects to be undertaken by the PAJ.

He said each port will be upgraded and outfitted with unique features that will greatly enhance the visitor experience, according to the article.

It cited Chang stating that work on the state-of-the-art fishing village and Reynolds Pier in Ocho Rios were far advance, which when completed, would return Ocho Rios to being the island’s leading cruise destination.

Minister Chang also said the marina in Port Antonio would also be upgraded by the port authority.

Joe Issa Supports Call for Smartphone Impact Research on Kids

Founder of Cool Corporation and a parent of two, Joe Issa, has supported a call for Apple to undertake research on the impact of smartphones on children, stating it is long overdue.

“We have had smartphones around for several years and we still do not know for sure what effect it is having on our kids who use them.

“With so much content in text and vedio we don’t know what our kids are reading and viewing and their appropriateness.

“We don’t even know if it is addictive or pose a health risk with prolonged use as has been said of electronic devices generally.

“And with the multitude of apps that are available on smartphones and their level of sophiscation in terms of functionality, parents will be challenged to control what their kids are exposed to and for how long.

“I think Apple will be well advised to do that research out of concern for our young, impressionable minds, which I also agree makes good business sense,” said Issa, who was referring to news that two large Apple shareholders say it needs to research the impact of smartphones on kids

In an article originally appeared on TechCrunch, two of Apple’s institutional shareholders, hedge fund Jana Partners and California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS), are said to have called on the company to study the impact of smartphone use on child development.

It cited an open letter, in which the two investors said that after reviewing research, they believe that Apple needs to give parents more resources and software tools to make sure their kids are using their devices “in an optimal manner.”

Although together, Jana and CalSTRS hold only $2 billion of the Apple’s current $898 billion market capitalisation, however, the letter is said to be noteworthy, because both investors are influential activist shareholders.

Jana Partners managing director Barry Rosenstein pushed Whole Foods to put itself up for sale before the grocery chain’s acquisition by Amazon last year, while CalSTRS, which manages retirement benefits for public \educators in California, is the second-largest public pension fund in the United States.

“In a letter signed by Rosenstein and CalSTRS director of corporate governance Anne Sheehan, the two shareholders said they worked with child development experts to review studies that found links between the use of electronic devices and negative effects on concentration, emotional health, sleep and empathy,” wrote the report.

It said that research done by psychologist and San Diego State University professor Jean Twenge was also included. Twenge is believed to have found that American teens who spend three or more hours a day on electronic devices are more likely to have a risk factor for suicide than their peers who use them for less than an hour a day.

The letter is also said to have rgued that making parents bear ultimate responsibility for their kids’ device and social media use is missing the point because parents still need the support of tech companies.

“It is also no secret that social media sites and applications for which the iPhone and iPad are a primary gateway are usually designed to be as addictive and time-consuming as possible, as many of their original creators have publicly acknowledged,” Rosenstein and Sheehan wrote, adding even though an American Psychological Association study found 94% of parents try to manage their kids’ technology use, “it is both unrealistic and a poor long-term business strategy to ask parents to fight this battle alone.”

“The two believe that current parental control features in software are ineffective because they force parents to take an “all or nothing approach” by only allowing them to prevent access to certain functions or features. Furthermore, they claim many apps designed to help parents monitor their kids’ tech consumption aren’t backed by strong research and don’t have the same impact as they would with Apple’s support.

“Jana and CalSTRS proposed several steps Apple can take, including tasking one of their executives (or hiring a new one) to focus on the issue and deliver annual reports, similar to its Environmental Responsibility Reports, for more transparency; creating a committee of child development experts; supporting researchers by giving them access to Apple’s information resources; and adding new setup menus and other options to software so parents can tailor functionality to specific age groups,” the article said.

“As one of the most innovative companies in the history of technology, Apple can play a defining role in signaling to the industry that paying special attention to the health and development of the next generation is both good business and the right thing to do,” Rosenstein and Sheehan was quoted as saying.

TechCrunch is said to have contacted Apple for comment.

ALEX Platform to Increase Local Sales, Reduce Imports, Tourism Leakage but Reliable Supply Critical – Joe Issa

Joe Issa has encouraged farmers to latch on to the Agri-linkages Exchange (ALEX) platform, in order to increase local sales while reducing imports and leakage from the tourism sector, warning, however, that reliability and quality of supply will be critical.
“From what I have read it seems to be an innovative move that will bring farmers and hoteliers together in order to foster increased take up of local fresh produce by the tourism sector, thereby reducing imports of such products while reducing leakage from tourism.

“However, the reliability and quality of supply will be of paramount importance in achieving the goal,” said Issa, whose first job after leaving university was purchasing manager in his family’s hotel business.

Issa, who operates several platforms in his Cool Group of over 50 companies, was commenting on the launch of the ALEX platform at the Montego Bay Convention Centre recently.

According to JIS News, Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett, in addressing the launch said the platform, which was set up to facilitate the purchase and exchange of goods between farmers and buyers within the hotel industry, will result in an increase in the use of local produce in tourism enterprises, and support the national thrust to reduce imports.

“With the help of ALEX, we are leveraging technology to bring hoteliers in direct contact with the farmers, and in turn reduce leakages and retain more of the economic benefits of tourism in Jamaica.

“When you think that about one-third of all visitors’ spend is on food, it makes sense to target agriculture to reduce imports and increase the use of locally grown fruits and vegetables,” he explained.

The minister is also said to have implored farmers to seize the opportunities which abound, by providing a reliable supply of high-quality food “every day of the year” to players in the industry, as the “phenomenal growth in the tourism sector” has created a larger market for fresh produce.

He reportedly said the synergy between the agriculture and tourism sectors underscored the Government’s commitment to bring all segments together to ensure responsible tourism that brings benefits to the “wider society” by deepening the linkages among agriculture, manufacturing, gastronomy, health and wellness, sports and others.

Agriculture and tourism, in particular, he argued, offered the best opportunities for inclusive economic growth.

Bartlett said the Ministry of Tourism, through the Linkages Network, would be driving several initiatives to build the capacity of local farmers in their bid to meet the needs of the hospitality and tourism sector.

The initiatives include an Entrepreneurial Training and Coaching Programme, and a berry farming development project geared at preparing farmers to support hoteliers’ needs for fresh, high-quality strawberries, raspberries and blueberries.

He indicated that an updated Tourism Demand Study, which would provide the empirical data to allow for the effective planning and identification of goods and services in the tourism sector, was being prepared and would be ready for release in March 2018, said the JIS.

Joe Issa Supports Marshall Plan for Caribbean Territories

Mere days following concern expressed by local businessman Joe Issa about rising unemployment in the Caribbean, within the context of the region’s physical vulnerability and institutional barrier to aid, Sir Richard Branson has echoed the same sentiments.

 

The head of British-based Virgin Group Sir Richard has reportedly advocated for a Marshall Plan for the Caribbean, similar to the aid package the US provided to rebuild Western Europe after World War II.

Caribbean governments are said to have been calling on international organisations, multilateral development banks, and developed countries for years, to formulate a major economic package of aid and debt relief.

But alas, according to a Jamaica Observer article titled, “Why Sir Richard Branson is Right on the Money”, the international community may listen given the recent battering which the Caribbean countries received from hurricanes, noting that Sir Richard’s timing demonstrated his political acumen.

For his part Issa, whose Cool Group strategy has been likened to that of Branson’s Virgin Group, has on more than one occasion argued against using per capital income – as aid doners do – to disqualify Caribbean nations from receiving much needed assistance.

Issa said, “The reality is that Caribbean countries are battered every year by hurricanes and need vast sums to rebuild. Some are known to have been hit more than once during the annual hurricane season.”

More recently, in an article titled “‘Remove the Impediment’: Joe Issa Supports Case for Vulnerable Caribbean States to Access Concessionary Loans”, Issa supported a move for the reconsideration of the income per capital criterion established long ago which disqualifies Caribbean states for concessionary funding to support their annually-battered economies.

Issa argued that “it isn’t fair for Caribbean states to be denied access to soft money because of their supposedly middle to high income status which, in any case, reverses every year after the battering by hurricanes.”

He explained that due to their high per capital incomes, countries like Antigua & Barbuda and Dominica, which were ravaged by Category 3 hurricanes, have advanced or graduated from the low income Least Developed Country (LDC) designation to Upper Middle Income.

Issa was at the time supporting United Nations Secretary General António Guterres’call for special consideration to be made for mid to high income vulnerable states that have been “deprived” of concessional loans, following his visit to hurricane-battered countries, leaving trails of death and destruction estimated at billions of dollar.

“The fact is that even though these countries have graduated as middle-income countries, they have a number of vulnerabilities that need to be taken into account if we want them to be sustainable as middle-income countries,” Gutters reportedly said.

In an effort to promote and sustain economic growth, Caribbean governments are said to have pursued fiscal policies, which have contributed to a build-up of external debt.

Caribbean countries are now believed to be the most indebted countries in the world, with some, like Jamaica, having a Debt/GDP ratio of over 100 per cent, which is way above the maximum 75 per cent recommended, if sustainable economic growth is to be resumed, the article said.

It noted that the situation is now “at a point where a major policy initiative has to be mounted to significantly reduce the debt…This would ease the liquidity constraints, solvency risk, and allow governments to increase public investment in infrastructure, education and health.

“The debt burden has to be reduced by strategy combining (a) restructuring of multilateral debt; (b) reduction of bilateral debt by debt swaps for climate mitigation, environment, education and cancellation; and (c) conversion of commercial debt into multilateral debt.”

It argued that “the Caribbean, without doubt, needs a Marshall Plan to build resilience and lay the basis for sustainable economic growth,” suggesting that the United States, which is the region’s main trading partner, must have a hand in it.

According to Wikipedia, “the Marshall Plan (officially the European Recovery Program, ERP) was an American initiative to aid Western Europe, in which the United States gave over $13 billion (approximately $132 billion in current dollar value as of October 2017) in economic support to help rebuild Western European economies after the end of World War II.

“The plan was in operation for four years beginning on April 8, 1948. The goals of the United States were to rebuild war-devastated regions, remove trade barriers, modernize industry, make Europe prosperous once more, and prevent the spread of communism.

“The Marshall Plan required a lessening of interstate barriers, a dropping of many regulations, and encouraged an increase in productivity, labour union membership, as well as the adoption of modern business procedures.”

Joe Issa Backs New Mathematical Formula to Buttress Fight against Climate Change – Excerpts

Excerpts from an interview with climate change and science enthusiast Joe Issa show him taking a uniquely strategic position on doomsday predictions related to global warming.

“If the new finding leads those who are most responsible for global warming to rethink their approach to taking responsibility and drastically cut their deadly practice, then I think it will have served its purpose.

“Far too many people including world leaders are taking global warming for a joke; so if it takes a mathematical formula to scare the hell out of them, then it is worthy.

“I am not a scientist so I tend to believe what I read from credible sources until they are proven wrong by more credible sources; it’s all science research…Furthermore, we have witnessed more fury in the recent hurricanes than ever before; the scientists predicted that too,” said Issa, as he reacts to a global warming, doomsday prediction that could commence as early as 2100.

The mathematical formula, which has been created to predict a sixth mass extinction is said to have been developed by Daniel Rothman, geophysics professor at the famous Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

He made the calculation based on the significant changes in the carbon cycle over the last 540 million years and everything that is known so far about the previous five mass extinctions that occurred during this time, a recent article in PA Science informed.

Rothman warned that based on his mathematical prediction, “our oceans may hold enough carbon in 80 years’ time to trigger a sixth mass extinction.”

He proposed that “mass extinction occurs when one of these two thresholds are crossed – one, where changes occur at rates faster than our ecosystems can adapt in a long-timescale carbon cycle and, two, where changes are of a significantly large magnitude for carbon perturbations that take place over shorter timescales.”

“Given the recent rise in carbon dioxide emissions due to human activity we would reach this threshold by the year 2100 and once that happens, it could lead to an unstable environment, and ultimately, mass extinction,” Rothman said in the article.

He is said to have “calculated the critical amount of carbon to be about 310 gigatons, which would be enough to trigger the events that could lead to a mass wipe-out of all the major species on Earth.”

“But it doesn’t mean mass extinction will follow immediately. It will take another 10,000 years for the ecological disasters to play out. But he warns that by 2100, the world would be tipped into unknown territory.

“This is not saying that disaster occurs the next day. It’s saying that, if left unchecked, the carbon cycle would move into a realm which would be no longer stable, and would behave in a way that would be difficult to predict, adding that in the geologic past, this type of behavior is associated with mass extinction.

“The Earth has endured five mass extinction events, each involving processes that wreaked havoc on the carbon cycle.

“Having previously done some work on the end-Permian extinction, Rothman identified 31 events in the last 542 million years where a significant change occurred in our planet’s carbon cycle after looking through hundreds of scientific papers.

“Looking at the geochemical record, Rothman noted changes in the relative abundance of two carbon isotopes – carbon-12 and carbon-13 – for each mass extinction event.

“He then created a mathematical formula based on the total mass of carbon that was added to the oceans during each event and the timescale of each event.

“It became evident that there was a characteristic rate of change that the system basically didn’t like to go past. Then it became a question of figuring out what it meant,” the article said of Rothman.

What’s Wowing Joe Issa? : Greenlight for Engineering Babies Free of Inherited Disorders, Could Reduce Stress on Family, Friends, Public Health Services

Family oriented businessman and philanthropist Joe Issa, who is a big contributor to the education of underprivileged Jamaican children is wowed by new discoveries which could relieve families and friends of the stress of fighting diseases in young children and put less pressure on the health services.

“It’s a remarkable discovery that scientists can now remove disease genes in human embryos and allow for the birth of perfectly healthy babies.

“You can imagine the stress this will relieve for generations of parents and friends who will no longer have children born with genetic diseases, as well as the pressure it will reduce on the health services.

“Most importantly, healthier children make for a healthier, better educated and a more productive workforce, which is the most important input in the production of goods and services for economic growth,” said Issa, who founded the successful Cool brand that is being leveraged internationally.

Issa was commenting on recent news that Scientists in the United States have repaired a disease-causing mutation in the DNA of early-stage human embryos, taking a step closer to engineering babies free of inherited disorders.

While Issa hails the technical feat, at the same time he joins experts, who are calling for more debate on the ethics of altering human DNA.

“The lab-created, edited embryos were not allowed to develop beyond a few days, when they comprised a handful of cells,” said the Observer-carried AFP report.

“Just over 72 per cent of the embryos – 42 out of 58 – ended up being free of a heart disease-causing mutation carried in the DNA of the sperm used to create them,” a team reportedly said in the journal Nature.

“This was an improvement on the 50-per cent odds for embryos that result naturally from a couple in which one partner carries the coding error.

“With further improvement, the method “can potentially be used to prevent transmission of genetic disease to future generations. The alteration itself is heritable, meaning that the children and grandchildren of a person born with edited DNA will be safe from the same genetic disease,” said study co-author Paula Amato of the Oregon Health & Science University.

Further research is said to be needed – to determine the safety of the technique and boost its accuracy to as close to 100 percent as possible – before it can be used to create embryos meant to develop into healthy babies.