UN Meet On Bio-safety Ends On Promise To Advance Work On LMOs

New Delhi, Oct 8, IRNA - The UN meeting on bio-safety held in Hyderabad, capital city of Andhra Pradesh state, has ended with an agreement to advance work on the issue of socio-economic considerations regarding Living Modified Organisms (LMOs). The sixth meeting of the governing body of the Cartagena Protocol on Bio-safety ended on October 5 with an agreement to advance discussions to clarify socio-economic issues associated with living modified organism (LMOs). The LMO is a term for a wide range of genetically modified organisms. The discussions were intended to assist parties to the Protocol that may wish to consider socio-economic factors in reaching decisions on the import of such organisms. Some 1,500 delegates from more than 100 countries attended the five-day meeting, a press release issued in Hyderabad said, pti reported. The participants of the meeting agreed to convene a group of experts to further clarify the issue of socio-economic considerations and to conduct research and exchange information and experiences on it. Agreement was also reached on a number of other complex issues, including risk assessment, response actions in event of unintentional movement of LMOs across national borders and types of documentation accompanying shipments of LMOs. Delegates commended the progress made in the development of "Guidance on Risk Assessment of Living Modified Organisms" by a group of experts and encouraged Parties to test the guidance in actual cases of risk assessment and share their experiences, the press release said. The delegates also agreed on an improved plan of action on capacity-building to support the implementation of the Protocol and adopted further steps to strengthen the Biosafety Clearing House –- an online information exchange facility under the Protocol. Speaking at the closing ceremony, M F Farooqui, Special Secretary, Union Ministry of Environment and Forests and chairman of the meeting, thanked delegates for their constructive ideas and the spirit of compromise which contributed to the success of the meeting. He welcomed the offer made by the Republic of Korea to host the next meeting of the Parties to the Protocol. Braulio Ferreira de Souza Dias, Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity, noted, "Parties have found common ground on all the issues that were on the agenda of the meeting. "In particular, they made notable progress on the issues of, socio-economic considerations and risk assessment of LMOs and adopted an action plan on capacity-building aligned with the ten-year Strategic Plan for the Protocol."/end