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friends of the earth
international
june 13, 2003, washington, us
u.n. treaty regulating biotech crops to
become law
An international treaty that seeks to
protect the environment from the potential
risks of Genetically Modified (GM) organisms
will officially become law in 90 days from
today.
The United Nations treaty, known as
'Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety', or
Biosafety Protocol, had to be ratified by
fifty countries before entering into force.
[1]
The 50th ratification, by the Pacific
Island State of Palau, was announced today.
The Protocol will enter into force in 90
days, on September 11, 2003. First discussed
in 1992, it took more than ten years for the
Protocol to become law.
Friends of the Earth International
welcomed the start of the countdown to the
entry into force of the Protocol. It is the
first treaty that officially seeks to protect
biological diversity from the potential risks
posed by genetically modified organisms.
It constitutes the first global
environmental agreement of the new millenium.
It is also the first international agreement
which clearly says that Genetically Modified
Organisms (GMOs) are different and therefore
require a different treatment.
The Protocol will require all exporters of
GMOs to be released into the environment to
take measures to prevent contamination of GM
seed products by implementing an identity
preservation system.
But many issues are still pending. One key
issue is liability. Friends of the Earth
International today repeated its call for the
immediate establishment of an effective
liability mechanism under the Protocol to
ensure that corporations that harm the
environment, for instance through
contamination by GM crops, pay for the
pollution they create.
At the same time the international
notification system under the Protocol
does not replace national biosafety
legislation, so Friends of the Earth warned
that enacting stricter national legislation
on biosafety is still needed.
The Biosafety Protocol backs the approach
of the European Union,
asserting that GMOs need different treatment
from non-GMOs. Therefore the Protocol stands
in contradiction to policies held by some
countries, such as the U.S., which affirm
that GMOs are not different from the
conventional plants and animals they derive
from.
"The times of uncontrolled trade of GMOs
are over. The Biosafety Protocol
sets a new era for global regulation of
GMOs. Exporters from all over the world
should take adequate measures to prevent
contamination of GM seed products," said
Ricardo Navarro, Salvadorean Chairman of
Friends of the Earth International.
For further information please
contact:
In Washington (U.S.),
Larry Bohlen, Friends of the Earth US
Tel: + 1-202-783-7400 ext. 251
E-mail:
lbohlen@foe.org
In Brussels (Belgium),
Juan Lopez, Friends of the Earth
International
Tel: +32-2-5420180 or +32-477-391496
E-mail:
juan.lopez@foeeurope.org
In El Salvador (Central America)
Ricardo Navarro, Chairman Friends of the
Earth International.
Tel: +503-2200046 or +503-2206480
E-mail:
foeichair@navegante.com.sv
Notes to Editors:
[1] more information at the Cartagena
Protocol on Biosafety official
homepage:
http://www.biodiv.org/biosafety
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