Uso y abuso del principio Precautorio

Dr Peter Saunders, Prof of Mathematics at King’s College, London provides a clear and common sense approach to understanding the precautionary principle. This understanding is crucial in the light of the Biosafety Protocol. […]

Capacity Building and the Biosafety Protocol: A TWN report

This paper is on the capacity building needs in developing countries to implement the Biosafety Protocol. It examines the key requirements for effective national implementation of the Protocol and makes specific recommendations on critical areas. […]

Legal Declaration of Dr Richard Lacey on Food Safety Aspects of GE Crops

This is a statement made in the form of a legal declaration on the health risks of using genetic engineering in producing new plant varieties for food. It is by Dr Richard Lacey, an expert on food safety, who foresaw the BSE (mad cow disease) food crisis. […]

TWN report on Starlink scandal

This is a TWN report on the StarLink scandal. The discovery of GE StarLink corn, which has not been approved for human consumption, in food products in a number of countries, has raised widespread alarm over safety regulations, segregation and labelling. […]

Biosafety talks end on mixed note

After five years of difficult and painful negotiations, the Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity finally concluded a Biosafety Protocol in late January 2000 at Montreal. […]

Delayed, but better, Biosafety Protocol

Looking back, it is clear that the collapse of the biosafety negotiations in Cartagena was a blessing in disguise. […]

The ‘Cartagena/Vienna setting’: Towards more transparent and democratic global negotiations

While it was public pressure that finally pushed the negotiations in Montreal in 2000 to a successful conclusion, the process was greatly facilitated by the innovative and transparent procedures initiated by the chairman of the meeting, Minister Juan Mayr […]

Biosafety negotiations – flashbacks

Tewolde Berhan G Egziabher, the spokesperson of the Like-Minded Group (Group of 77 & China) at the Montreal and Cartagena talks and who has been involved in the biodiversity negotiations since the Nairobi Conference in 1991, reflects on his experience. […]

The core issues in the Biosafety Protocol: An analysis

Only the core issues of the Biosafety Protocol were negotiated at Montreal in 2000. The remaining provisions were basically the same as those negotiated at the earlier talks in Cartagena in 1999. Lim Li Lin analyses and comments on these core provisions. […]

The way forward

Now that the Biosafety Protocol has been negotiated, what are the steps that can be taken to fill in the gaps left by the Protocol? Some key dates and suggestions for consideration are set out below. […]