Improving GMO Regulation in Indonesia

To benefit from the advances in biotechnology, Indonesia's regulations should be set in place. A study was conducted by Dr. Bahagiawati and Dr. Sutrisno from the Indonesian Center for Agricultural Biotechnology and Genetic Resources Research and Development (ICABIOGRAD) on the "Application of Genetically Modified Crops: Status, Regulation and Detection Method in Indonesia". The results published in the Journal AgroBiogen, showed that Indonesia had several regulations on application of  transgenic crops such as Government Regulation (GR) 21/2005; GR 69/1999 on labeling of GMO products; and GR 28/2004 on GM food. However, according to the authors, the implementation of GR 69/1999 and GR 28/2004 are still not realized since there is no implementation guidance, lack of laboratory  facility, and capable human resources to implement the rules. 

In Indonesia,  the labeling of GMO is still mandatory with the threshold of 5.0. The authors also mentioned that until now, Indonesia has only four GMO detection laboratories, of  which two are government laboratories (ICABIOGRAD, Ministry of Agriculture and Food and Drugs Agency), and two private laboratories (PT. Saraswanti and Atmajaya University). The authors further recommended that Indonesia needs to have a biosafety framework, enhanced facility and human resources to assess the existence of GMO in any food materials.

See more details at: http://www.indobiogen.or.id/agrobiogen.php or contact the authors for more information at s.trisno@indo.net.id , bahagiawati@indo.net.id, or Dewi Suryani of IndoBIC at  dewisuryani@biotrop.org