"Support to the AU in the Matters of Biosafety"A project within the context of the AU-German Cooperation
| |
African Union Commission
|
Human Resources, Science & Technology Department
P.O. Box 3243, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Contact: Vera Brenda Ngosi (Ms.)
+251-11-5517700 Ext 245
ngosiv@africa-union.org
|
|
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) GmbH
Division 47, Environment and Climate, P.O. Box 5180, 65726 Eschborn, Germany
Contact: Alexandra Müeller (Ms.)
+49 6196 79-7403
alexandra.mueller@gtz.de
|
|
Introduction
Biotechnology has been identified as the one of the leading technologies of the 21st century with the potential to address economic, social and environment issues afflicting the poor in developing countries like African countries. While most techniques and applications in the field of biotechnology seem to be generally accepted, the specific case of producing and using genetically engineered organisms has triggered major scientific, social, and political controversies ever since such organisms were first developed in the 1970s.
The necessary set of techniques to produce genetically engineered organisms (GMOs) has been defined as "modern biotechnology" by international treaties, guidelines, and standards such as the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (2000) of the Convention for Biological Diversity, the Principles for the Risk Analysis of Foods Derived From Modern Biotechnology (2003) of the Codex Alimentarius, and the international standard for Pest Risk Analysis for Quarantine Pests, including Analysis of Environmental Risks and Living Modified Organisms (2004) of the Food and Agriculture Organisation.
The proponents of modern biotechnology have acclaimed the positive impacts on agriculture, human health and the environment through increased crop yields, reduced use of pesticides and herbicides, production of nutritionally enhanced foods and production of affordable vaccines. These promises are met with reservations stating that in many cases traditional and modern breeding methods other than genetic engineering have already been applied successfully to develop plants with enhanced and new features at lower costs and without patenting the genetic resources. It is also widely recognised that the causes of many agricultural problems is multi-factorial hence in most cases the improvement or replacement of a specific plant does not help to overcome these problems.
The application of modern biotechnology allows the intentional crossing of natural breeding barriers. The underlying molecular processes are qualified as sufficiently "new" so that they and the resulting organisms can be patented as inventions. While proponents of modern biotechnology state that no new risks come along with these new organisms, others feel that the new way of producing organisms might be associated with new risks. Pre-market procedures should be applied to assess how the organisms may behave and evolve in the environment, and how they may interact with other species.
The later view prevailed in the international discussion and led to the establishment of regulations that should ensure biosafety in order to exploit the potentials of modern biotechnology in a sustainable manner. Thus, the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety as an international legally binding treaty sets minimum standards for regulating certain aspects concerning the safe transfer, handling and use of living modified organisms (LMOs) which are products of modern biotechnology, with special focus on the import and export of LMOs. These standards should ensure an adequate level of protection to avoid or minimize potential adverse effects on the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity, taking into account human health.
The OAU started to engage itself in the field of biosafety in 1999, when the negotiations of the Cartagena Protocol were stalled and African countries feared that no international agreement might be achieved in the end. The African Model Law on Safety in Biotechnology was developed and finalised in 2001 to provide Africa with an harmonised framework for creating national biosafety laws. After the Cartagena Protocol was adopted, the OAU started a dialogue with the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) to develop a regional capacity building project to implement both the Protocol and the Model Law.
At its third ordinary session, held in July 2003 in Maputo, the Executive Council of the AU adopted Decision EX/CL/Dec.26 (III), which stressed the need for Member States to equip themselves with human and institutional capacities to deal with biosafety issues within the framework for the implementation of the Biosafety Protocol. The decision also endorsed steps taken by the AU Commission to put in place an Africa-wide biosafety system and programmes to strengthen the abilities of Member States to deal with biosafety issues. It further calls on African development partners to assist Africa in this endeavour.
The AU-BMZ Biosafety Project was therefore further developed within the above context to provide the AU with the necessary capacities and effective instruments to support its Member States in implementing the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety and the African Model Law on Safety in Biotechnology.
What is more the first New Economic Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) Ministerial Conference on Science and Technology in November 2003 called upon the Secretariat of NEPAD to: "build a broad consensus on issues of common concern and develop effective strategies including joint R&D programs where appropriate ways and means to build Africa's capacity on biosafety for risk assessment and management in particular promote the establishment of regional and sub-regional biosafety facilities and facilitate Africa's participation in international for a, processes and discussions on the global biotechnology issues."
Further, the second meeting of the NEPAD Science and Technology Steering Committee in July 2004 decided that the NEPAD Secretariat and the AUC establish a high level panel of eminent persons/experts to advice Africa on the scientific, policy and legal issues pertaining to development, commercialisation and application of modern biotechnology. Therefore in response to this decision the High-level African Panel on Biotechnology (APB) was established.
|
