AFX - Asia | February 27, 2004
KUALA LUMPUR -- More than 100 signatories to the UN's Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety have agreed to abide by international rules covering the export of genetically-modified crops and food.
The Protocol came into force in September last year, and the 100 countries have now decided on a "rigorous system" for handling, transporting, packaging and identifying genetically-engineered exports, during a conference in Kuala Lumpur.
Under the new system, all shipments of GMOs such as seeds and fish that are meant to be introduced directly into the environment must be clearly identified, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) said in a statement.
The common, scientific and commercial names of the modified organisms, along with the "transformation event code", must be documented, as well as the GMO "risk class" and contact details in case of emergency.
All bulk shipments of genetically-engineered crops intended for food, animal feed or processing, such as soybeans and maize, are to be labelled "may contain LMOs", the UNEP said.
A 15-member committee has been established to monitor compliance with the protocol, while a group of legal and technical experts will develop regulations by 2008 covering liability and redress for damages resulting from trans-boundary movements of GMOs.
The US, the world's biggest producer of GM crops, is already involved in a struggle over the issue of GM crops with the European Union in the World Trade Organisation (WTO), and has been quick to express its disappointment.
"We understand the concerns that countries have to protect their biodiversity, but we believe you can't just erect walls and have regulatory procedures that are not based on science," US biotech trade policy spokeswoman Deborah Malac said.
"Our biggest disappointment is that we feel they are moving down a path away from practical steps. They are moving very, very quickly in a direction without being sure parties can implement their obligations," she said. In the light of this stance, the US has not signed the protocol, which has been ratified by 86 countries and the European Union, and has lobbied hard on the sidelines of the conference for the minimal labelling of GM products.
Canada and Argentina are also major producers of GM crops and have not signed the protocol.
Environmentalists Friends of the Earth said in a statement that the agreement has "foiled attempts by the USA and other GM exporting countries to weaken this newborn international agreement on GMOs". "We are happy with the outcome," Greenpeace delegation chief Doreen Stabinsky said.
The protocol forms part of the Convention on Biological Diversity, adopted by 150 countries after the Rio Earth summit in 1992, which aims to protect all forms of life from the ravages of human development.AFX - Asia:
