A new webpage of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has compiled links to websites of some OECD member countries and the European Commission containing publicly available information on field trials of transgenic organisms. See the webpage or contact [email protected] for more information.

As part of its Animal Production and Health Manuals series, FAO has just published two new manuals on highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI). The first, entitled "Wild bird highly pathogenic avian influenza surveillance: Sample collection from healthy, sick and dead birds", by K. Rose, S. Newman, M. Uhart and J. Lubroth, aims to provide brief guidelines on the sampling methods to use when conducting wildlife surveillance, or a morbidity/mortality investigation. Topics covered include animal handling, proper methods for collecting and transporting diagnostic samples related to investigation of avian diseases such as avian influenza, West Nile virus and Newcastle disease. Chapter 9 deals with diagnostics, including e.g. use of molecular methods. The second, entitled "Preparing for highly pathogenic avian influenza", by V. Martin, A. Forman and J. Lubroth, is intended to assist national animal health authorities and other stakeholders consider the needs for preparing for a possible incursion of HPAI, to detect disease at the earliest opportunity and to respond as rapidly as possible to contain the disease. Chapter 4, dedicated to `preparing for an outbreak`, discusses, inter alia, use of recombinant vaccines and laboratory diagnosis. See the first and second manual or contact [email protected] for more information.

As part of its Planted Forests and Trees Working Papers series, FAO`s Forestry Department has just published "Responsible management of planted forests: Voluntary guidelines". The paper describes guiding principles for the sustainable management and use of planted forests, as well as key guidelines for each principle, and then considers selected cross-cutting issues that are important for effective implementation of the principles and guidelines, such as `operational planning and management`, where 11 issues, including biotechnology and genetic modification, are discussed. The guidelines were derived through an extensive multi-stakeholder process coordinated by FAO over a two year period. Papers in this series report on issues and activities in the planted forests sector and their purpose is to provide early release of information on ongoing activities and programmes and to stimulate discussion. See http://www.fao.org/docrep/009/j9256e/j9256e00.htm or contact [email protected] for more information or to provide any comments and feedback.

The latest Tsetse and Trypanosomiasis Information bulletin is now available on the web. Published twice a year by FAO, the bulletin contains news and publication abstracts, aiming to collate and disseminate current information on all aspects of tsetse and trypanosomiasis research and control to institutions and individuals involved in the problems of African trypanosomiasis (a vector-borne disease affecting people and animals caused by various species of blood parasites called trypanosomes). The bulletin commonly includes items involving applications of polymerase chain reaction methods and the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay to the disease. See the latest 121-page bulletin (in English and French) or contact [email protected] to subscribe to the bulletin.

FAO Research and Technology Paper 11, entitled "Results from the FAO Biotechnology Forum: Background and dialogue on selected issues", by J. Ruane and A. Sonnino, has now been published. The 152-page book presents the background and summary documents from a series of six moderated e-mail conferences hosted by the FAO Biotechnology Forum from 2002 to 2005, relating to agricultural biotechnology for the crop, forestry, animal, fisheries and agro-industry sectors in developing countries. Three of the six conferences focused on genetically modified organisms (GMOs), dealing with gene flow from GM to non-GM populations; regulation of GMOs; and participation of the rural people in decision-making regarding GMOs. Two conferences covered the entire range of biotechnology tools (including GMOs), dealing with the role and focus of biotechnology in the agricultural research agenda and, secondly, applications of biotechnology in food processing. The remaining conference dealt with molecular marker-assisted selection. See http://www.fao.org/docrep/009/a0744e/a0744e00.HTM (917 KB) or contact [email protected] to request a copy.

The background document for the FAO e-mail conference entitled "Coping with water scarcity in developing countries: What role for agricultural biotechnologies?" is now available. The 16-page document gives an overview of the current status and future perspectives regarding water availability and use on Earth as well as a discussion of some major strategies that can be employed to deal with water scarcity. It then looks at the issue of water use in agriculture in more detail as well as some of the potential ways in which biotechnology could contribute to this area (e.g. increasing the efficiency of water use in agriculture; application of mycorrhizal fungi; or improving wastewater treatment). See http://www.fao.org/biotech/C14doc.htm or contact [email protected] to request a copy. The moderated e-mail conference runs from 5 March to 1 April 2007 and is organised by the FAO Biotechnology Forum, in collaboration with colleagues in FAO`s water programme, to coincide with the World Water Day which is celebrated each year on 22 March. To join the Forum (and also register for the conference), send an e-mail to [email protected] leaving the subject blank and entering only the following text on two separate lines:subscribe BIOTECH-Lsubscribe biotech-room2Forum members wishing to register for the conference should leave out the first line of the above message. For more information, contact [email protected].

On 31 October and 1 November 2006, a training-of-trainers workshop on "Safety assessment of foods derived from modern biotechnology Biosafety within a Biosecurity framework" was held in Ottawa, Canada, organized by FAO in collaboration with the Government of Canada. The summary report of the workshop is now available. The workshop was held as one of a series of biosafety-related activities within a Biosecurity framework. The overall objective of the project is to provide a standardized training package to assist countries in implementing international texts related to the food safety assessment of products derived from modern biotechnology. The purpose of the workshop was to pilot test the training package. See the report or contact [email protected] for more information.

As part of its Background Study Paper series, the FAO Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture has just published "The state of development of biotechnologies as they relate to the management of animal genetic resources and their potential application in developing countries" by K. Boa-Amponsem and G. Minozzi. The paper reviews literature, particularly that published after 1999, on the current state of development of genetic and reproductive technologies, and evaluates their potential impact on the utilization and conservation of locally adapted animal genetic resources for the sustainable intensification of production systems. See ftp://ftp.fao.org/ag/cgrfa/BSP/bsp33e.pdf or contact [email protected] for more information.

The Codex Ad Hoc Intergovernmental Task Force on Foods Derived from Biotechnology held its 6th session from 27 November to 1 December 2006 in Chiba, Japan. The report of the meeting is now available. See document ALINORM 07/30/34, with links to the agenda and documents, at http://www.codexalimentarius.net/web/archives.jsp or contact [email protected] for further information.

The 35th Session of the Codex Committee on Food Labelling takes place from 30 April to 4 May 2007 in Ottawa, Canada. Item nr. 5 on the provisional agenda is "Labelling of foods and food ingredients obtained through certain techniques of genetic modification / genetic engineering". See the meeting agenda, with links to the meeting documents, at http://www.codexalimentarius.net/web/current.jsp (in English, French and Spanish) or contact [email protected] for further information.

As part of its FAO Legal Papers Online series, the FAO Legal Office has recently published "Guidelines for the revision of national phytosanitary legislation" by J. Vapnek and D. Manzella. The guidelines attempt to distil the experience gained and lessons learned during the implementation of FAO legal assistance activities in the phytosanitary field in recent years, carried out in close collaboration with the Plant Protection Division of FAOs Agriculture Department. The publication also takes into account the issue of plants, or plant products, that are living modified organisms (LMOs) when drafting or amending phytosanitary legislation. See http://www.fao.org/Legal/prs-ol/lpo63.pdf or contact [email protected] to request a copy.

The Research Group of the Standing Technical Committee of the European Commission for the Control of Foot-and-Mouth Disease (EUFMD) met in Closed and Open Sessions on 16-20 October 2006 in Paphos, Cyprus. The draft report of the Open Session plus some of the papers presented there are now available on the web. Issues covered at the Open Session included epidemiology and surveillance of the disease; vaccine control; vaccine application; and diagnostics. The EUFMD is a regional Commission established under the auspices of FAO in 1954. See the report or contact [email protected] for more information.

As part of the FAO JECFA Monographs series, the "Compendium of Food Additive Specifications" has just been published, containing specifications of identity and purity prepared at the 67th meeting of the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA), held in Rome on 20-29 June 2006. During the meeting the "General Specifications and Considerations for Enzyme Preparations Used in Food Processing" were revised by the Committee, where e.g. recommendations for naming enzymes in JECFA specifications monographs, including enzymes from microorganisms containing recombinant DNA, were included and where the list of references to international documents pertaining to foods and food ingredients from plants and microorganisms containing recombinant DNA was updated. JECFA is an international expert scientific committee that has been meeting since 1956, initially to evaluate the safety of food additives and later to also include the evaluation of contaminants, naturally occurring toxicants and residues of veterinary drugs in food. See http://www.fao.org/docrep/009/a0675e/a0675e00.htm or contact [email protected] for more information.

The latest newsletter from the Insect Pest Control Section of the Joint FAO/IAEA Division of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture and the FAO/IAEA Agriculture and Biotechnology Laboratory is available on the web. The 41-page newsletter, issued twice a year, gives an overview of activities of the Section, which include research into the application of molecular biology for the development of modified strains of insects for future pest control applications. See http://www-naweb.iaea.org/nafa/ipc/public/ipc-nl-67.pdf (1.4 MB) or contact [email protected] to subscribe to the newsletter.

The UNEP-GEF Biosafety Unit has just released two new publications on the web. The first, entitled "A comparative analysis of experiences and lessons from the UNEP-GEF biosafety projects", is a study looking at the 124 countries that participated in the UNEP-GEF Project for Development of National Biosafety Frameworks (NBF), which began in June 2001, as well as the 8 countries that participated in the UNEP-GEF demonstration projects for the implementation of the NBFs. These projects were implemented by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) under the Global Environment Facility (GEF) Initial Strategy for assisting countries to prepare for entry into force of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety. The 49-page study focuses on a comparative analysis of their experiences in order to draw out lessons and best practices applicable to other global initiatives for implementation of multilateral environmental agreements. See the document (1.1 MB). The second publication is a 4-page brief entitled "Building biosafety capacity: The role of UNEP and the Biosafety Unit". See the document or contact [email protected] for more information about either publication.

The report of the meeting of the OIE Biological Standards Commission (BSC) that took place on 13-15 September 2006 in Paris, France is now available on the web. The BSC is one of the four Specialist Commissions of the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) and the role of the Specialist Commissions is to use current scientific information to study problems of epidemiology and the prevention and control of animal diseases, to develop and revise OIE`s international standards and to address scientific and technical issues raised by Member Countries. A number of Ad Hoc Groups, including one on biotechnology, work under the auspices of the BSC and their reports are included as Appendices to the BSC meeting reports. The OIE Ad Hoc Group on Biotechnology held its first meeting on 3-5 April 2006 in Paris, France and its report is included in this BSC meeting report (pages 19-33). See http://www.oie.int/downld/SC/2006/A_BSC_2006S.pdf (562 KB) or contact [email protected] for more information. The OIE is an inter-governmental organisation with 167 Member Countries.