Publications: About ISAAA
The ISAAA Biosafety Initiative The ISAAA Biosafety Initiative is aimed at building institutional capacity in the development and operation of effective biosafety regulatory mechanisms, with emphasis on developing harmonized regulations within and across regions. The Initiative focuses on catalyzing government support, leading a country to build biosafety regulations and mechanisms that ensure the safe and effective transfer of modern biotechnology, foster sustainable agriculture, and protect the environment and biodiversity. Toward this end, the Initiative builds capacity to review proposals for biotechnology applications; generates and disseminates information; organizes practical workshops in Africa, Asia, and Latin America to share experiences; and provides on-the-job training through internships.
Two Biosafety Workshops in Africa In 1995, two workshops were organized in Kenya, sponsored by a grant from SAREC (now SIDA) and APHIS of USDA. Both workshops were organized by ISAAA and were attended by nearly 80 senior policy makers, scientists, and representatives of special-interest groups from Argentina, Ethiopia, France, India, Kenya, Mexico, South Africa, Sudan, Sweden, Switzerland, Tanzania, Uganda, the UK, the USA, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. In line with ISAAA's goal of developing close cooperation with centers of the CGIAR, ICRISAT featured prominently in the workshop. Because the information presented at the workshops will be useful to many who could not attend the meetings, ISAAA, in collaboration with partners, assembled and edited all papers that were presented. These were published in two special issues of the African Crop Science Journal. The
first workshop, "Biotechnology and Biosafety: Benefit and Risk
Assessment in an African Perspective," dealt with generic issues
related to developing biotechnology and biosafety policies and regulations.
Benefit and risk assessment received special emphasis. The participants
focused on the following major issues:
The many outcomes of this workshop included a statement and resolution, presented at the council of Africa Ministers meeting in Nairobi in March 1995. In the resolution, participants recommended that governments strengthen the African Regional Biosafety Focal Point by funding beyond the current foreign donor support as a regional initiative to support transfer and application of biotechnology in the region. Participants felt that this Focal Point has a unique strategic role to play in the harmonization of biosafety regulations and other important critical services that would encourage the introduction of relevant need-based biotechnologies supporting sustainable food production and economic growth in the African countries represented. The second workshop, "Environmental Impact and Biosafety: Issues of Genetically Engineered Sorghum," focused on sorghum because it is a staple in many developing countries and is of particular importance in human nutrition in the semiarid regions of Africa and India. Sorghum will continue to be an important food grain in developing countries, and its relative importance as poultry feed and livestock forage will probably increase. Biotechnology has the potential to produce new, superior varieties of sorghum that provide more stable and higher yields, possess greater nutritional value, and resist biotic stresses, such as insect pests and diseases, and abiotic stresses, such as drought. However, as with any new and powerful technology, there is a need to ensure that biotechnology is applied prudently. The principal objective of this workshop, which was attended by sorghum experts and biotechnologists from developing and industrialized countries, was to critically consider potential applications of biotechnology to sorghum and assess the implications for developing countries. Participants considered several biosafety questions related to genetic engineering of sorghum with specific agronomic traits. Numerous specific recommendations were made to guide sorghum improvement programs, particularly in Africa; these appeared in the special issue of the African Crop Science Journal. Implementing Biosafety Regulations in Southeast Asia and Brazil Several international workshops have been conducted in many parts of the world in the past several years to build capacity in developing countries in biosafety regulatory oversight. One major outcome of these workshops has been the creation of national biosafety committees to draft guidelines for the use of products derived from biotechnology. ISAAA's interaction with many countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America indicates that it is essential that committee members be given adequate financial and human resources to implement biosafety mechanisms. In response to requests from the biosafety committees of Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Brazil, ISAAA developed a project to facilitate the operation of national biosafety committees. With comparatively modest funding for each country (provided by The Rockefeller Foundation), much was achieved in 1995. Indonesia drafted Guidelines for Planned Introductions into the Environment of Organisms Genetically Modified by Recombinant Techniques, now in the final stages of approval. These guidelines specifically address the importation and planned introduction into the environment of such organisms. They also contain terms of reference for national biosafety committees to enforce appropriate standards in the relevant institutions in Indonesia. Malaysia established an ad hoc Advisory Committee on Genetic Manipulation, set up under the auspices of the Ministry of Science, Technology, and the Environment. The Committee drafted Guidelines for the Release of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) into the Environment, the first of a series of documents to be released as part of the Committee's regulation of GMOs. The Committee, when formally established, will be within the ambit of the National Committee on Biological Diversity. Its two main objectives are, first, to ensure that any risks associated with genetic manipulation experimentation and resulting novel organisms are identified and safely managed and, second, to advise the Malaysian government about matters on technology for genetic manipulation. The Committee will generally adopt an advisory role and will establish guidelines for research involving genetic manipulation and field release of GMOs; oversee the implementation of guidelines; serve as a focal point for information on biosafety activities; and provide advice to research organizations, federal and state agencies, and institutions in the private sector. Malaysia also organized a National Consultative Workshop on Biosafety during 14-16 August 1995 in Kuala Lumpur. This workshop provided an overview of the potential and risks of modern biotechnology and developed modalities for biosafety regulations at the national, regional, and international levels. Among the participants were scientists, economists, lawyers, sociologists, policy makers, and journalists. Guest speakers included scientists fromAustralia, Japan, Thailand, the UK, and USA. This workshop was judged successful by the participants in that its output was a refined and more effective biosafety regulatory framework. Thailand translated its biosafety guidelines into English and published protocols for laboratory and field testing. Two in-country seminars were held in collaboration with the Monsanto subsidiary in Thailand, NCGEB, and Kasetsart University. A regional seminar focused on helping ASEAN countries choose three sites for field testing transgenic plants with the Flavr Savr tomatoes trait developed by Calgene and another site for testing Bt cotton lines developed by Monsanto. The 40 participants attended both the seminar and laboratory sessions. Resource people from Australia, Austria, and the UK shared their experiences; participants included experts from Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Nepal, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam. The project leader in Thailand also had the opportunity to participate in several other regional and international meetings held in Indonesia, Malaysia, the USA, and Spain. This interaction is judged critical for the safe deployment of rDNA technology in Thailand and for the harmonization of biosafety regulations. Brazil's Biosafety Law won approval from the National Congress in January 1995, and the National Technical Biosafety Committee is expected to be operational in early 1996. Many companies are beginning to prepare the documentation to test products in Brazil. It is expected that crops such as soybean, corn, potato, and tobacco will be the first crops reviewed for field trials. In collaboration with UNIDO and UNEP, EMBRAPA/CENARGEN organized an international biosafety workshop during October 1995. Participants included several scientists from private organizations and research institutes in several Latin American countries. Speakers included well-known scientists from Europe and the USA. Brazil acquired the essential computer hardware for managing the UNIDO BINAS database at CENARGEN. A database containing descriptions of field experiments with GMOs in several Latin American countries will be launched early in 1996, and further collaboration on database use and transfer is being developed with other MERCOSUR countries.
Providing Hands-on Biosafety Training National scientists from developing countries require first-hand experience with genetically engineered plants in the field, in preparation for transferring transgenic plants to their own countries. The saying, "Reading is learning; seeing is believing; doing is knowing," is the core of ISAAA's biosafety training program. The learning-by-doing philosophy that ISAAA has adopted rests on the conviction that people who plan and execute tasks to achieve a real goal develop a better understanding and appreciation of problems and priorities and are better equipped to implement new ideas and technologies. This training program is intended to facilitate the introduction of biotechnology in a safe, responsible, and effective way. Several scientists have participated in this program (see insert on ISAAA fellowships). The latest training fellowship was awarded to develop the local expertise to transfer a Mexican potato variety, Rosita, to Kenya (see earlier description in this report), as a first step towards the establishment of a biosafety commission in Kenya. The fellowship also made it possible to produce a manual for a biosafety seminar, which will be offered to scientists, policy makers, and staff of national and private companies in Kenya which have an active interest in the application of biotechnology to sustainable agriculture.
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