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It was French philosopher, anthropologist, and sociologist Bruno Latour who came up with the gripping title you read above. I came across Latour’s work some months ago, and I was fascinated. Today’s piece stands on the shoulders of that work. It’s about the story of how one laboratory fundamentally changed the landscape of French society. It’s about the transformative power that laboratories, as entities, have for a society, and it’s about what such an entity can do for Albania.

The story begins with France, and the period is late 1800. Keep in mind that at this time France was the agricultural powerhouse of Europe, and a titan of production. Nothing was more important than agricultural productivity. It was the pre-industrial era as well, so the French may not have had the industry they bolster today, but they had wine. They had grain also, and truffles, and most important of all, they had dairy. Now dairy is important because dairy means cattle, and cattle was the nail-biting issue of the late 1800s in France. The country’s very existence was being threatened by a seemingly indominable threat that wanted nothing more than to eradicate our domesticated friends. That threat was anthrax.

By 1880, anthrax had truly become a matter of national security. As the epidemic took hold, it promised to rattle the French economy, its public health sector, and France’s global standing. It’s fascinating, isn’t it, that these larger-than-life issues can all result from a single bacterium that threatens cattle of all things? Amidst all this panic and turmoil, however, it was a group of scientists working persistently in the four walls of their laboratory that were building up an arsenal capable of making a difference. This was the legendary Louis Pasteur lab, where this pioneer of modern microbiology and immunology was making headway towards developing a vaccine.

As Latour puts it, a laboratory serves as a microcosm of society. The elements of the ‘outside’ world; the French society’s need for addressing the epidemic, the political pressures pushing researchers towards a solution, and the funding needed to make it all happen — all of these and more would clash with the ‘inside’ world of Pasteur’s lab. This ‘inside’ world, however, offered a significant advantage. Inside a lab you’re able to systematically strip down a problem to its most essential elements; you’re able to control key factors, study them, hypothesize and experiment, again and again until you come to an answer. This is precisely what the Pasteur lab did, and it’s precisely what led to the anthrax vaccine.

The next step was for society at large to make real use of this scientific breakthrough. The ‘inside’ world had to merge with the infinitely more complex ‘outside’ world. This meant that public authorities needed to develop protocols and public health initiatives that made the vaccine relevant. The French media had to disseminate information to the people. Small farms had to record, collect and send out samples. In short, science and society had to be joined at the hip for France to survive.

For the first time in history it was possible to monitor the devastating effect that an epidemic can have. It was possible to measure the number of lives that were saved because of a vaccine. The end result? Political reform, mass vaccination campaigns, investments in scientific research, societal reorganization, and above all regulation. Arguably, the role and actions stemming from this laboratory not only saved and modernized France, but all of Europe as well. After all, France was the agricultural powerhouse of the continent.

The reputation of Pasteur’s lab continued to grow, and the best practices that emerge from it spread all across the continent. It was the birth of food safety and veterinary science for Europe, and the beginning of France’s renowned chemical and pharmaceutical industries. All of this started because of one laboratory in a time of crisis. That one lab truly did move the world.

Well, that’s all from Bruno Latour, but what does all this mean for Albania?

I think there are some interesting parallels between the France of late 1800 and the Albania of today. In the same way that it was for France, our agriculture is fragmented, small-scale, mainly subsistence-based, and pre-industrial. It is difficult for people to cooperate, so productivity and profits are not reaching their potential. Similarly, we in Albania are suffering from a threat that we do not know much about, and which we are not yet equipped to handle. It’s not so bad as anthrax was, and definitely not as fast acting, but the unmonitored and unregulated pesticide market in Albania is proving to be more of a problem than we can currently handle.

It is our unfortunate burden to bear that we have no Louis Pasteur in Albania. In fact, we do not have something that resembles even a figment of Pasteur and his laboratory. So what are we to do? I believe the answer lies in France still. I believe we can have France extend a helping hand towards us in the form of a laboratory. One way I see that becoming possible is with the help of the multinational, French-borne conglomerate Eurofins Scientific. A laboratory with Eurofins’ sterling reputation, history, ethics, and standard has the potential to position itself as a catalyst for development in Albanian agriculture, and perhaps even society at large, just like Paster’s lab did. With their help, Albania can reach the golden standard of laboratory testing in one fell swoop.

Imagine this, if you will: a globally renowned food safety laboratory finally gives our country the ability to reliably and consistently test for pesticides (which we currently do not have). Our agricultural export sector, needing to test for pesticides to conduct their business, finally gets some much-needed and critical support; it starts to grow. This success motivates people to move towards cooperation. Subsistence farmers that today work with less than two hectares come together in large agricultural cooperatives that focus on export. The agriculture sector becomes more reliant on regulation and transparency. Production is booming, and we surpass the (almost) 20% GDP contribution that agriculture claims today. Some degree of financial security finally becomes possible for the Albanian farmer. To put the importance of that into context, when I say ‘the Albanian farmer’ I mean almost 40% of the Albanian workforce.

After the first few years, having reinvested the substantial profits that come with being the only consistently reliable and credible source of pesticide testing in Albania, the lab sets up collection offices at our national borders. We can now finally keep track of the agricultural products that make their way into our country. Our farmers don’t have to settle for expired pesticides anymore. Our citizens don’t have to fear for their health.

We fast forward, and the lab aims to bolster veterinary science and the dairy industry (which is now in shambles), it moves on to test the soil that was so liberally treated with pesticides 30 years ago, it moves on to test the quality of our drinking water. By working with the statistics institute, and by insisting on values of transparency, we are now able to measure, regulate, and address the life-threatening issue of pesticides in Albania.

Some years pass still, and the lab has received funding to start a collaboration with local universities. Students at the Agricultural University of Tirana have the chance to study, intern, and work at a globally recognized institution, and train with lab equipment that they would otherwise have no access to. Joint educational courses between the Faculty of Veterinary Science and the lab strengthen their collaboration; a new R&D center emerges. Employment for skilled jobs is on the rise.

These are just some of the possibilities that open up when a credible laboratory becomes a central part of Albanian society. I did not even mention the part where this lab can become a credibility enhancer for the whole Western Balkan Region. The absence of such a lab is a crucial gap for Albania; it’s a barrier to progress; it is a crucial ‘institutional void’ that must be addressed.

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Well, I’ve wanted to share this story and these thoughts with you for a long time now. I hope you enjoyed this article. If you like where this series is heading, consider sticking around to hear more next week, where we’re going to look at the amazing story of one Sudanese-British businessman. A true living legend, Mo Ibrahim managed to address a critical institutional void in Africa, and then somehow managed to curtail corruption in all of Africa by offering a cash prize of all things. Keep up with us by signing up for the ‘Reimagining Albania’ newsletter. Until then, check out some of our other work here!