On 13 June, the 50th country ratified the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety to the Convention on Biological Diversity, meaning that the Protocol enters into force on 11 September 2003. The objective of the Protocol is "to contribute to ensuring an adequate level of protection in the field of the safe transfer, handling and use of living modified organisms resulting from modern biotechnology that may have adverse effects on the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity, taking also into account risks to human health, and specifically focusing on transboundary movements". The first Meeting of the Parties to the Protocol will take place in the first quarter of 2004 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. See http://www.biodiv.org/biosafety/ratification.asp or contact [email protected] for more information.

29/06/2003