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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.
25/02/2002
An FAO Forest Genetic Resources Working Paper written by Konstantin Krutovskii and David Neale and entitled "Forest genomics for conserving adaptive genetic diversity" has recently been put on the web. It was prepared for the Forest Resources Development Service in FAO`s Forest Resources Division. See http://www.fao.org/DOCREP/003/X6884E/X6884E00.HTM or contact [email protected] to request a copy.
24/02/2002
The Technical Proceedings of the Conference on Aquaculture in the Third Millennium were published in June 2001 and have recently been put on the web. The conference was held in Bangkok, 20-25 February 2000, and organised by FAO and the Network of Aquaculture Centres in Asia-Pacific (NACA). The introduction states that "these Technical Proceedings represent the most comprehensive and authoritative review assembled to date of the status of aquaculture development in the world". Among the many interesting articles is one related to biotechnology in aquaculture entitled "Review of the status of aquaculture genetics" by Rex Dunham et al. It is available at http://www.fao.org/DOCREP/003/AB412E/ab412e03.htm or a copy of the proceedings can be requested from the NACA Secretariat in Bangkok ( [email protected]) or from Dr Rohana Subasinghe ( [email protected]), Senior Fishery Officer (Aquaculture) in Rome.
23/02/2002
The final Rapporteurs` Report for the conference on `New Biotechnology Food and Crops: Science, Safety and Society`, that took place in Bangkok, Thailand, July 10-12, 2001, is now available (29 pages). The conference was co-sponsored by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the Government of the United Kingdom, in cooperation with FAO, World Health Organisation, United Nations Environment Programme, the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Government of Thailand. See http://www.oecd.org/pdf/M00025000/M00025559.pdf or contact [email protected] for more information.
22/02/2002
A paper commissioned by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization concerning Intellectual property rights (IPR) and biotechnology has been published recently in the free electronic journal "IP Strategies Today". The paper is by Anatole Krattiger and entitled "Public-Private Partnerships for Efficient Proprietary Biotech Management and Transfer, and Increased Private Sector Investments". See http://binas.unido.org/binas/reviews/Krattiger.pdf or send an e-mail to [email protected] to subscribe to the journal.
21/02/2002
As part of an initiative by the World Health Organisation and leading medical journal publishers, it was announced on 31 January 2002 that more than 1,000 different journals in biomedical and related social sciences will be made freely available on the internet to public institutions in developing countries. Some of the journals are related to biotechnology in food and agriculture. This Health InterNetwork "Access to Research" Initiative is expected to last at least three years. Institutions in countries with GNP per capita below $1000 are eligible for free access to the literature. The institutions need computers connected to the internet with a high-speed link (56k baud rate or higher). See http://www.healthinternetwork.org/src/eligibility.php or contact [email protected] for more information.
07/02/2002
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) produced a press release (January 16) about a three year $ 38 million UNEP/GEF global project entitled "Development of National Biosafety Frameworks" which aims to help developing countries prepare for the entry into force of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety adopted in January 2000. The Biosafety Protocol seeks to ensure the safe transfer, handling and use of GMOs that may have adverse effects on the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity, taking also into account risks to human health. See http://www.unep.org/Documents/Default.asp?DocumentID=233&ArticleID=2995 or contact [email protected] for more information.
06/02/2002
The Intergovernmental Group on Bananas and on Tropical Fruits, which is part of FAO`s Committee on Commodity Problems, held its 2nd session in San José, Costa Rica, 4-8 December 2001. The Sub-Group on Bananas evaluated the emerging role of biotechnology in bananas. A report entitled "Biotechnology and Banana Production" was prepared for the meeting and is available at http://www.fao.org/unfao/bodies/ccp/ba-tf/2001/default.htm or a copy can be requested from [email protected]. In their recommendations and conclusions from the meeting, the sub-group "cautioned against excluding small farmers from the benefits accruing from the application of biotechnology to this sector".
04/02/2002
The European Community (EC) has recently published a review of EC-supported research into the safety of GMOs, spanning the period from 1985 to 2000. The research areas included genetically modified plants and fish, biocontrol, food safety, bioremediation, plant microbes, vaccines produced using GM technology and tools/techniques to track GMOs. See http://europa.eu.int/comm/research/quality-of-life/gmo/index.html. Copies of the publication can be requested from [email protected]
03/02/2002
The November edition of OECD Biotechnology Update is available (it is sent roughly every 6 months). The aim of the Update is to provide information on the diverse activities at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development related to biotechnology. The new edition includes, among others, items on regulatory, trade and legal aspects of biotechnology and gives weblinks and e-mail addresses for accessing additional information and publications. See the Update at http://www.oecd.org/pdf/M00008000/M00008255.pdf or contact [email protected]
01/02/2002
Louise Fresco, Assistant-Director General, FAO Agriculture Department gave the keynote address to a conference on Crop and Forest Biotechnology for the Future, Falkenberg, Sweden, 16-18 September 2001. The talk was entitled Genetically modified organisms in food and agriculture: Where are we? Where are we going?. See full document at http://www.fao.org/ag/magazine/GMOs.pdf (38 K); an abbreviated version at http://www.fao.org/ag/magazine/0111sp.htm or contact [email protected] to request a copy.
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