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Agricultural Biotechnologies
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The News items relate to applications of biotechnologies in food and agriculture in developing countries and their major focus is on the activities of FAO, other UN agencies/bodies and the 15 CGIAR research centres. The News items cover all food and agricultural sectors (crops, forestry, fisheries/aquaculture, livestock, agro-industry) and a wide range of biotechnologies (e.g. use of molecular markers, artificial insemination, triploidisation, biofertilisers, micropropagation, genomics, genetic modification etc.). New documents are included as News if they are freely available on the web and, for people who can't download them or who wish further information, an e-mail contact is also provided. The News service was launched in January 2002 and all News items posted since then (there were 800 in the first 9 years) are available here. The news and event items on this website are also disseminated through an e-mail newsletter called FAO-BiotechNews that is published in six different versions, one per language i.e. Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish. To subscribe, send a message to [email protected] indicating which e-mail addresses are to be subscribed and in which language they wish to receive the newsletter.
09/11/2003
The United Nations University/Institute of Advanced Studies (UNU/IAS), in Tokyo, Japan, has published a 36-page report entitled "In search of biosecurity: Capacity development on access to genetic resources, benefitsharing, and biosafety in Central Asia and Mongolia". It was prepared based on country reports from Central Asian countries (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan) and Mongolia as well as the proceedings and outcomes of the workshop "In search of biosecurity: Capacity building on access to genetic resources, benefit sharing and biosafety in Central Asia and Mongolia, held from 30 June to 3 July 2002 in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia and organised, among others, by UNU/IAS and the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). See http://www.ias.unu.edu/binaries/UNUIAS_CentralAsiaReport.pdf or contact [email protected] for more information.
08/11/2003
A Biosciences Facility for Eastern and Central Africa is being established as part of NEPAD`s (New Partnership for Africas Development) continent-wide network of centres of excellence. Establishment of the new Facility has been made possible by an initial investment of more than Canadian $30 million by the Canada Fund for Africa through the Canadian International Development Agency. The facilities will be hosted by the International Livestock Research Institute, in Nairobi, Kenya. Biosciences embrace a wide range of biological specialisations related to all living organisms, including animals, microbes, plants and trees. See http://www.doylefoundation.org/BiosciencesBrochure.pdf (1.68 MB) or contact [email protected] for more information.
29/10/2003
FAO Research and Technology Paper 8, presenting a report of the first six moderated e-mail conferences hosted by the FAO Biotechnology Forum from March 2000 to May 2001, has just been published in Spanish, entitled "Biotecnología agrícola para países en desarrollo - Resultados de un foro electrónico". The first four conferences dealt with the appropriateness of currently available biotechnologies in the crop, fishery, forestry and livestock sectors, while the remaining two dealt with the implications of agricultural biotechnology for hunger and food security and the impact of intellectual property rights. The publication includes the background and summary documents for each of the conferences, as well as providing an introduction; information about participation in the conferences; general conclusions and, finally, additional references. See http://www.fao.org/biotech/forum.asp or contact FAO to request a copy of the publication.
28/10/2003
Two popular FAO publications on biotechnology have just been re-printed. They are FAO Research and Technology Paper 8, entitled "Agricultural biotechnology for developing countries - Results of an electronic forum", and FAO Research and Technology Paper 9, entitled "Glossary of biotechnology for food and agriculture", both published in 2002. See http://www.fao.org/biotech/forum.asp and http://www.fao.org/biotech/index_glossary.asp respectively or contact FAO to request a copy of one or both publications.
27/10/2003
The background document for the FAO e-mail conference entitled "Molecular marker assisted selection as a potential tool for genetic improvement of crops, forest trees, livestock and fish in developing countries" is now available. See http://www.fao.org/biotech/C10doc.htm or contact [email protected] to request a copy of the 10-page document by e-mail. The conference runs from 17 November to 12 December 2003 and is hosted by the FAO Biotechnology Forum. To join the Forum (and also register for the conference), send an e-mail to [email protected] leaving the subject blank and entering only the following text on two separate lines:subscribe BIOTECH-Lsubscribe biotech-room2Forum members wishing to register for the conference should leave out the first line of the above message.
27/10/2003
On 17-18 October 2003, the Fondazione per le Biotecnologie, the University of Turin and FAO organised an international workshop in Turin, Italy, entitled "Marker assisted selection: A fast track to increase genetic gain in plant and animal breeding?". The proceedings of the workshop, with 11 papers covering crops, livestock, fruit trees and farmed fish, are now available, providing an up-to-date overview of the status regarding marker assisted selection. See http://www.fao.org/biotech/Torino.htm or contact [email protected] to request to receive the proceedings by e-mail.
26/10/2003
FAO and the World Health Organization (WHO) are convening an expert consultation on "Safety assessment of foods from genetically modified animals including fish" on 17-21 November 2003 in Rome, Italy to provide advice to FAO/WHO and their Member countries on the safety assessment of foods derived from GM animals, including fish, and to discuss other potential risks (including environmental and ethical issues) associated with these foods. A number of working papers plus the summary report will be provided (in English) on the web, once available. "Animal biotechnology: State of the art, risks and perspectives", a 40-page background document (available in English and French), describing technical, environmental, animal health and welfare, food safety, regulatory and societal aspects of GM animals, is currently accessible. See http://www.fao.org/es/ESN/food/risk_biotech_animal_en.stm or contact [email protected] for more information.
25/10/2003
On 6-10 October 2003, an international symposium on "Applications of gene-based technologies for improving animal production and health in developing countries", jointly organized by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and FAO, was held in Vienna, Austria. The book of extended synopses is now available. There were four theme-specific sessions, covering gene-based technologies i) applied to livestock genetics and breeding ii) applied to pathogens and hostpathogen interactions iii) applied to plants, rumen microbes and systems biology iv) in environment, food safety and animal industry and related ethical and intellectual property rights issues. See http://www.iaea.org/programmes/nafa/d3/mtc/synopses.pdf or contact [email protected] for more details.
24/10/2003
The 1st meeting of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety to the Convention on Biological Diversity takes place on 23-27 February 2004 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The agenda and documents for the meeting are available at http://www.biodiv.org/meetings/mop-01/docs.aspx (in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish). As a related item, a special edition of the CBD News, entitled "Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety: From negotiation to implementation", on the entry into force of the Protocol, has been published at http://www.biodiv.org/doc/publications/bs-brochure-02-en.pdf. For more information on either of the items, contact [email protected]
23/10/2003
A first series of sub-regional workshops, each dealing with "Risk assessment and management and public awareness and participation", took place from November 2002 to May 2003 under the UNEP-GEF Project on Development of National Biosafety Frameworks. Reports are now available from all workshops. They were held in Namibia (report in English), Mexico (English and Spanish), Malaysia (English), Fiji (English), Senegal (English and French) and Lithuania (English). See http://www.unep.ch/biosafety/devdocuments.htm#Sub-RegionalWorkshops2 or contact [email protected] for more information.
22/10/2003
The 2nd meeting of the Working Group on GMOs established under the Aarhus Convention (i.e. the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters) took place on 1-3 October 2003 in Geneva, Switzerland. The report of the meeting is now available. See http://www.unece.org/env/pp/gmo.htm or contact [email protected] for more information.
21/10/2003
On 24 October 2003, the "WIPO-UPOV symposium on intellectual property rights in plant biotechnology" was held in Geneva, Switzerland, organised by the World Intellectual Property Organization and the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants. Presentations from the symposium, organised in 4 sessions (namely, plant biotechnology developments in the international framework, plant biotechnology and its dissemination, intellectual property in plant biotechnology: national/regional experiences and, finally, management of intellectual property rights), are available on the web. See http://www.upov.int/en/documents/Symposium2003/index.html or contact [email protected] for more information.
20/10/2003
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has published "Biotechnology indicators and public policy" by A. Arundel, as part of the Working Paper series of the OECD Directorate for Science, Technology and Industry. This working paper provides input and a framework for a broader discussion of the identification of user needs that should inform the development of biotechnology statistics and indicators. The paper considers the types of indicators that are required for policy in the three main applications of biotechnology: agriculture, health, and industrial and environmental applications. See http://www.olis.oecd.org/olis/2003doc.nsf/linkto/dsti-doc(2003)5 (in English and French) or contact [email protected] for more information.
19/10/2003
A workshop entitled "Technical issues related to sampling and detection of adventitious transgenic DNA sequences" was held at the headquarters of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), one of the 16 research centres supported by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), in El Batan, Mexico on 6-7 October 2003. The objectives were to "review, analyze, and synthesize state of the art knowledge and techniques related to sampling and detection of transgenes in wheat and maize, and to identify which methods are most appropriate for meeting CIMMYTs needs in this area". Outcomes of the workshop are presented at http://www.cimmyt.cgiar.org/english/webp/support/news/transgene.htm or contact [email protected] for more information.
18/10/2003
The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), one of the 16 research centres supported by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), has just published the 221-page book "La política de la precaución: Cultivos modificados genéticamente en países en desarrollo", the Spanish translation of "The politics of precaution: Genetically modified crops in developing countries" by R. Paarlberg (2001). See http://www.ifpri.org/spanish/pubs/books/politicsprecaution_sp.htm or contact [email protected] for more information.
05/10/2003
FAO is developing a website aiming to provide access to a collection of training materials on biosafety. The different biosafety issues covered include recombinant DNA laboratory safety; biosafety and containment issues for GMO research in greenhouses; assessing GMOs and the effects of introducing a GMO into the environment. The multi-lingual training materials are categorised as manuals, guidelines, reports, toolkits, cd-roms or websites. See http://www.fao.org/sd/2003/biosafety/index.htm. For comments or to propose additional materials, contact [email protected].
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