Under the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, a Compliance Committee has been established to promote compliance, to address cases of non-compliance, and to provide advice or assistance. Documents for the fifth meeting of the Compliance Committee, to be held on 19-21 November 2008 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, are now available on the web. See http://www.cbd.int/doc/?meeting=BSCC-05 or contact [email protected] for further information. For more details on the Compliance Committee`s work, see http://www.cbd.int/biosafety/issues/compliance.shtml.

Coordinated by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Division of Technology, Industry and Economics, the Green Customs Initiative is a collaborative effort of 10 international organisations and convention secretariats concerned with the implementation or enforcement of multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs) with trade-related aspects. As part of this Initiative, the "Green customs guide to multilateral environmental agreements" has just been published. MEAs regulate the transboundary movement of a wide variety of items that customs or border control officers might encounter and this guide is intended to help them in their work. The 117-page book is organised in four chapters, where Chapter 2 provides an overview of the seven treaties covered by the Initiative, one of which is the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety. The guide is available at http://www.greencustoms.org/ or contact [email protected] for more information.

Under its IFPRI Discussion Papers series, the International Food Policy Research Institute publishes papers containing preliminary material and research results which are circulated to stimulate discussion and critical comment. Three of its recent papers deal with genetically modified organisms. Paper number 795, entitled "Publish or patent? Knowledge dissemination in agricultural biotechnology", by A. Michiels and B. Koo, analyses recent patterns of knowledge generation and dissemination in agricultural biotechnology, in particular plant breeding, by using the example of the Agrobacterium-mediated transformation method. Paper 796, entitled "Biosafety at the crossroads: An analysis of South Africa`s marketing and trade policies for genetically modified products", by G.P. Gruere and D. Sengupta, analyses the current and potential future of South African trade-related policies on GM products. Paper 808, entitled "Bt cotton and farmer suicides in India: Reviewing the evidence", by G.P. Gruere, P. Mehta-Bhatt and D. Sengupta, reviews the evidence on the alleged resurgence of farmer suicides in India and the potential relationship between the adoption of Bt cotton and suicides among Indian farmers. See http://www.ifpri.org/pubs/pubs.htm#dp or contact [email protected] for more information.

At the 31st session of the Codex Alimentarius Commission, held from 30 June to 4 July 2008 in Geneva, Switzerland, the Commission adopted 35 new or revised Codex standards or related texts. These include the `Guideline for the Conduct of Food Safety Assessment of Foods Derived from Recombinant-DNA Animals` as well as two new annexes to the `Guideline for the Conduct of Food Safety Assessment of Foods Derived from Recombinant-DNA Plants`, namely `Food Safety Assessment of Foods Derived from Recombinant-DNA Plants Modified for Nutritional or Health Benefits` and `Food Safety Assessment in Situations of Low-level Presence of Recombinant-DNA Plant Material in Food`. In addition, the Commission approved new work for the Codex Committee on Methods of Analysis and Sampling on `Guidelines on Criteria for Methods for the Detection and Identification of Foods Derived from Biotechnology` and agreed to dissolve the Ad hoc Task Force on Foods Derived from Biotechnology. See the report (ALINORM 08/31/REP), together with the agenda providing links to the meeting`s documents, at http://www.codexalimentarius.net/web/archives.jsp?lang=en (in English, French and Spanish) or contact [email protected] for further information.

A new publication entitled "Biosafety regulations of Asia-Pacific countries", by K. Gupta, J.L. Karihaloo and R.K. Khetarpal, is now available on the web. Published by FAO, the Asia-Pacific Consortium on Agricultural Biotechnology (APCoAB) and the Asia-Pacific Association of Agricultural Research Institutions (APAARI), the 108-page document lists and briefly details the regulatory instruments related to biosafety of products of biotechnology for agriculture and food existing in 39 countries of Asia and the Pacific. It contains additional chapters providing an introduction to recent developments in agricultural biotechnology in the region, issues on biosafety, and international regulatory instruments on biosafety. A brief analysis of the present status of national biosafety regulations with respect to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety is also included. See http://www.apcoab.org/documents/bs_pub.pdf (670 KB) or contact [email protected] for more information.

The July 2008 newsletter from the Plant Breeding and Genetics Section of the Joint FAO/IAEA Division of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture and the FAO/IAEA Agriculture and Biotechnology Laboratory is now available. This 43-page newsletter, issued twice a year, gives an overview of their past and upcoming events (meetings, training courses etc.), ongoing projects and publications. See http://www-naweb.iaea.org/nafa/pbg/public/pb-nl-21.pdf (2.6 MB) or contact [email protected] to request a copy.

The July 2008 newsletter from the Animal Production and Health Section of the Joint FAO/IAEA Division of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture and the FAO/IAEA Agriculture and Biotechnology Laboratory is now available. The 39-page newsletter, issued twice a year, gives an overview of past and upcoming projects, publications and events. See http://www-naweb.iaea.org/nafa/aph/public/ap-nl-48.pdf (0.8 MB) or contact [email protected] to subscribe to the newsletter.

To mark the 5th anniversary of the entry into force of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, on 11 September 2008, the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity released a range of outreach materials related to the anniversary, whose theme was `The Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety: Five years of global cooperation towards sustainable development`. These include a statement from the UN Secretary General, a press release, poster and CD-ROM as well as a 5th anniversary edition of the newsletter Biosafety Protocol News. See http://www.cbd.int/biosafety/anniversary/ or contact [email protected] for more information.

The website of the Generation Challenge Programme (GCP) of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) contains a `Capacity-building corner` providing information about GCP training events, fellowship and grant opportunities, and other human resource development activities in the fields of plant genetic resources, genomics and molecular breeding. One of the corner`s components, on `learning materials`, has recently been greatly expanded, so that now it contains a distant learning module for scientists covering genetic resource policies and implications on freedom to operate (developed in collaboration with Wageningen University and Research Centre); a self-study introductory online course on crop bioinformatics (a joint project between the GCP and the International Rice Research Institute); and a new learning module on genomics and comparative genomics (developed jointly by the GCP and Cornell Universitys Institute for Genomic Diversity). See http://www.generationcp.org/sp5/?da=08123058 or contact [email protected] for more information.

As part of its IFPRI Discussion Papers series, the International Food Policy Research Institute has just published "Insecticide use on vegetables in Ghana: Would GM seed benefit farmers?" by D. Horna and co-authors. This analysis investigates the potential for adoption of GM vegetables by examining the determinants of insecticide use and estimating the extent to which insecticide use abates damage to the crop. See http://www.ifpri.org/pubs/dp/ifpridp00785.asp or contact [email protected] for more information. IFPRI Discussion Papers contain preliminary material and research results and are circulated in order to stimulate discussion and critical comment.

The FAO Biotechnology Glossary is now available in Russian. Apart from a translation of the over 3,000 terms and definitions contained in the original English glossary, the 381-page publication also contains an additional English-Russian vocabulary of biotechnology-related terms. The glossary provides consolidated, comprehensive and accessible definitions of terms and acronyms that are used regularly in biotechnology, including genetic engineering, and closely allied fields. The initial draft was prepared by G. Camarova (State Agricultural University of Moldova, Republic of Moldova) and revised by T. Gavrilenko, I. Anisimova and O. Antonova (N.I.Vavilov Institute of Plant Industry, Russian Federation) for plant-related terminology and by O. Kuznetsova and S. Kharitonov (Russian State Agrarian University, Russian Federation) for animal-related terminology. It is available in PDF, and soon as a web-based searchable database, at http://www.fao.org/biotech/index_glossary.asp or contact [email protected] to request a copy, providing your full postal address. The book was prepared by FAO`s Research and Extension Division, in collaboration with the FAO Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia. The original English version was prepared by A. Zaid, H.G. Hughes, E. Porceddu and F. Nicholas in 2001. The glossary has previously been translated into Arabic, French, Serbian, Spanish and Vietnamese and these versions can also be downloaded from the above website.

The Secretariat of the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) has submitted for member consultation a number of draft International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures (ISPMs), one of which is entitled `Pest free potato micropropagative material and minitubers for international trade`. The standard provides guidance on the production, maintenance and certification of pest free potato (Solanum spp.) micropropagative material and minitubers intended to be moved in international trade. Micropropagation is a biotechnology involving the miniaturised in vitro multiplication and/or regeneration of plant material under aseptic and controlled environmental conditions, while minitubers are tubers produced in a protected environment from potato micropropagative material. See https://www.ippc.int/id/201049?language=en (in English, French and Spanish) or contact [email protected] for more information. Contracting Parties, Regional Plant Protection Organizations and relevant international organizations are invited to comment on this and other draft ISPMs through their IPPC contact point. Templates for providing comments are available from the above link and the deadline for submission of comments is 30 September 2008. The IPPC is an international treaty relating to plant health, to which 169 governments currently adhere, and its Secretariat is based at FAO Headquarters, Rome.

The annotated list of on-line biotechnology policy documents of FAO members has recently been updated. Most of the 24 entries are national policy documents, covering applications of biotechnology in food and agriculture as well as in other areas, such as pharmaceuticals and human health care. See http://www.fao.org/biotech/country.asp (available in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish) or contact [email protected] to provide comments.

The final reports of the 4th meeting of the Parties to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (COP-MOP 4), held on 12-16 May 2008 in Bonn, Germany, and of the 9th Meeting of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP-9), held in the same place on 19-30 May 2008, are now available. See http://www.cbd.int/mop4/doc/ (107 pages, available in all six UN languages, i.e. in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish) and http://www.cbd.int/cop9/doc/ (246 pages, in English with other UN languages to come) respectively or contact [email protected] for more information.

As part of a network of regional centres providing comprehensive training in biosafety established by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), registration is now open for two e-Biosafety courses for 2008/2009. The international e-course at `biosafety and plant biotechnology` at Ghent University (Belgium) begins tentatively on 29 September 2008 and registration is open until 31 August. The `e-learning master in biosafety in plant biotechnology` at Marche Polytechnic University (Italy) starts tentatively on 5 November 2008 and applications are accepted between 15 July and 15 October. See http://binas.unido.org/wiki/index.php/Main_Page or contact [email protected] or [email protected] respectively.

In 2005, the International Futures Programme (IFP) of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) embarked on a project on `The bioeconomy to 2030: Designing a policy agenda`, aiming to assess "how pervasive biotechnological applications are likely to become, the prospects for further development over the next two to three decades, the potential impact on the economy and society, and the policy agenda needed to promote and diffuse this new wave of innovations in a way that is consistent with broader socioeconomic goals". The IFP has just released a number of background documents prepared within the context of the project, several of which deal directly with agricultural biotechnology. These include "Agricultural biotechnology to 2030", by A.M. Murphy, D. van Moorsel and M. Ching (22 pages, considering two different future scenarios); "Small and medium enterprises in agricultural biotechnology", by S.C. Blank (41 pages); "Intellectual property rights in agricultural and agro-food biotechnologies to 2030", by M. Trommetter (a 41-page report presenting options for intellectual property rights in agricultural biotechnologies by 2030); "An overview of regulatory tools and frameworks for modern biotechnology: A focus on agro-food", by M. Cantley (a 123-page paper aiming to give a picture of the main aspects of regulatory measures applied to modern biotechnology, and the products and services derived from it, in selected OECD and non-OECD countries); and "Biotechnology: Ethical and social debates", by N. Rigaud (an 89-page document focusing on six issues - genetically modified (GM) crops and GM food; biomass energy and biofuels; bioprospecting; GM and cloned animals and their welfare; private genetic information; and stem cell research). See the documents or contact [email protected] for more information.