Editorial: Development of the International Technical Guidelines for Biosafety, and the latest text of the Guidelines.

BioSafety, Volume 2 (Paper 1), May 22nd 1996
Online Journal, URL - http://www.bdt.org.br/bioline/by

Editorial: Development of the International Technical Guidelines for Biosafety, and the latest text of the Guidelines.

Brian Kirsop

Received May 19th 1996 Accepted May 20th 1996

Code Number: BY96001 Size of Files: Text: 11.4K No associated graphics files

At Rio de Janeiro in 1992, during the course of the Earth Summit and specifically in relation to Agenda 21, governments agreed to consider international cooperation on safety in biotechnology. This matter was discussed further at the first and second Conferences of the Parties - meetings of those governments which have signed the Convention on Biological Diversity - in 1994 and 1995. At the 1995 meeting, held in Jakarta, it was agreed that a Biosafety Protocol should be developed. An Open-Ended Ad Hoc working group of Experts was established to do this and will meet for the first time in July 1996. This group will follow the principles set out in the reports of earlier working group of experts in Biosafety.

The contents of a Protocol are thus not yet agreed, though it will certainly focus on the transfer of "living modified organisms resulting from modern biotechnology" across national boundaries. It is proposed that the International Guidelines developed by UNEP should be used until the Protocol is developed and that they should thereafter play a part in the implementation of the Protocol. In this Editorial, the contents of the guidelines are discussed.

Published by Bioline Publications and Science and Technology Letters