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Agricultural Biotechnologies
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The News items relate to applications of biotechnologies in food and agriculture in developing countries and their major focus is on the activities of FAO, other UN agencies/bodies and the 15 CGIAR research centres. The News items cover all food and agricultural sectors (crops, forestry, fisheries/aquaculture, livestock, agro-industry) and a wide range of biotechnologies (e.g. use of molecular markers, artificial insemination, triploidisation, biofertilisers, micropropagation, genomics, genetic modification etc.). New documents are included as News if they are freely available on the web and, for people who can't download them or who wish further information, an e-mail contact is also provided. The News service was launched in January 2002 and all News items posted since then (there were 800 in the first 9 years) are available here. The news and event items on this website are also disseminated through an e-mail newsletter called FAO-BiotechNews that is published in six different versions, one per language i.e. Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish. To subscribe, send a message to [email protected] indicating which e-mail addresses are to be subscribed and in which language they wish to receive the newsletter.
07/10/2005
The summary document of the FAO e-mail conference entitled "Public participation in decision-making regarding GMOs in developing countries: How to effectively involve rural people" has now been published. The 12-page document provides a summary of the main issues discussed during this moderated e-mail conference, hosted by the FAO Biotechnology Forum from 17 January to 13 February 2005, based on the messages posted by 70 people from 35 different countries during the conference. The main topics discussed were if, and to what degree, the rural people of developing countries should participate in decision-making regarding GMOs; misinformation and the type and quality of information required by rural people; appropriate communication channels; costs of public participation; international agreements/guidelines; and scepticism about the public participation process. See http://www.fao.org/biotech/logs/C12/summary.htm or contact [email protected] to request a copy.
06/10/2005
The 3rd Session of the Intergovernmental Technical Working Group on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITWG-PGR) takes place on 26-28 October 2005 at FAO Headquarters, Rome, Italy. One of the items on the provisional agenda is entitled "Guiding principles to address the possibility of unintended presence of transgenes in ex situ collections", for which the International Plant Genetic Resources Institute (IPGRI) has prepared document CGRFA/WG-PGR-3/05/6. See the provisional agenda and documents (all will be available in Arabic, English, French and Spanish) at the website of the 3rd Session or contact [email protected] for more information. The ITWG-PGR was established by the Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture in 1997 to address issues specific to plant genetic resources for food and agriculture and is composed of a total of 27 Member Nations from the different world regions.
05/10/2005
FAO`s Research and Technology Development Service (SDRR) has recently updated its Biosafety Resources website. The resources are classified into four groups: guidelines, manuals, reports and toolkits. The website aims to provide a broad choice of training resources on different biosafety issues, including recombinant DNA laboratory safety; biosafety and containment issues for GMO research in greenhouses; assessing GMOs and the effects of introducing a GMO into the environment. See http://www.fao.org/sd/sdrr/biosafety/index_en.asp (in English, French and Spanish) or contact [email protected] with comments or to suggest an additional biosafety resource.
04/10/2005
In 2001-2003, a series of four workshops on farm animal genetic resources was held in the Southern African Development Community (SADC), considering, among others, the topic of policies on biotechnology. A summary of these workshops, by I. Köhler-Rollefson, entitled "Farm animal genetic resources: Safeguarding national assets for food security and trade", has been published by the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA), the German Agency for Technical Cooperation (GTZ) and FAO. See the summary (1.13 MB) or contact [email protected] for more information.
03/10/2005
The 60th General Assembly of the United Nations has begun and it is scheduled to discuss a total of 156 agenda items before mid-September 2006. Item 52 (h) is on the Convention on Biological Diversity, for which document A/60/171 has been prepared, including a report by the Convention`s secretariat on ongoing work regarding the Convention, including its Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety. Item 54 (b) is on "Science and technology for development", for which document A/60/184 has been prepared, summarising work carried out by entities of the United Nations system in the area of biotechnology. See http://www.un.org/ga/60/second/summaries.htm (documents available in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish) or contact [email protected] for more information.
02/10/2005
As part of a series of biotechnology publications by the United Nations University`s Institute of Advanced Studies (UNU-IAS), aimed at "providing information on the challenges, opportunities, and risks of this expanding technology for sound decision- and policy-making", a book and two reports by A. Sasson have now been released. The reports, entitled "Industrial and environmental biotechnology: Achievements, prospects and perceptions" and "Food and nutrition biotechnology: Achievements, prospects and perceptions", are freely available on the web. See http://www.ias.unu.edu/publications/details.cfm/articleID/703 or contact [email protected] for more information.
01/10/2005
The book entitled "La yuca en el tercer milenio: Sistemas modernos de producción, procesamiento, utilización y comercialización", edited by B. Ospina and H. Ceballos, has recently been made available on the web. Produced by the Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical (CIAT) and the Consorcio Latinoamericano para la Investigación y el Desarrollo de la Yuca (CLAYUCA), the 28-chapter book provides an update on advances in production, processing, commercialisation and use of cassava over the last three decades, covering also the area of biotechnology. See http://www.clayuca.org/site/contenido.htm or contact [email protected] for more information.
11/09/2005
The summary document of the moderated e-mail conference entitled "Biotechnology applications in food processing: can developing countries benefit?", which was hosted by the FAO Biotechnology Forum from 14 June to 15 July 2004, has now been published. This 9-page document aims to provide a summary of the main issues that were discussed i.e. the importance and diversity of fermented products; control and variable quality of traditional fermentation; documenting information about traditional fermented food; scaling up production of traditional fermented foods; appropriateness of individual biotechnologies; education and capacity building; food safety and human health; intellectual property rights and traditional knowledge. See http://www.fao.org/biotech/logs/C11/summary.htm or contact [email protected] to request a copy.
10/09/2005
The Codex Alimentarius Commission, at its 23rd session in 1999, established an Ad Hoc Intergovernmental Task Force on Foods Derived from Biotechnology to consider the health and nutritional implications of such foods. The Task Force held 4 sessions and completed its work within four years (July 2003). At its 27th session, held from 28 June to 3 July 2004 in Geneva, Switzerland, the Commission agreed to establish a new Ad Hoc Intergovernmental Task Force on Foods Derived from Biotechnology with the understanding that its final report should be submitted to the Commission in 2009. The first session of this new Task Force (i.e. the fifth session in total) takes place in Chiba, Japan on 19-23 September 2005. The agenda and documents for the session are now available at http://www.codexalimentarius.net/web/current.jsp (in English, French and Spanish) or contact [email protected] for further information. The Joint FAO/WHO Codex Alimentarius Commission is an intergovernmental body set up to establish international standards on foods.
09/09/2005
An international dialogue on Agricultural and rural development in the 21st century: Lessons from the past and policies for the future takes place on 9-10 September 2005 in Beijing, China, jointly organised by FAO and the Ministry of Agriculture of China. For the 4th session, dedicated to "Frontiers of science for agriculture in the 21st century", a paper entitled "FAO contribution to strengthening plant biotechnology in developing countries" has been prepared by M. Solh and K. Ghosh from FAO`s Plant Production and Protection Division. See http://www.fao.org/es/ESA/beijing/topics_04.htm or contact [email protected] for more information.
08/09/2005
FAO`s Research and Technology Development Service has just launched a new "Technology for Agriculture" (TECA) website. It aims to improve "access to information and knowledge about available proven technologies in order to enhance their adoption in agriculture, livestock, fisheries and forestry" as, very often, established technologies are not well documented and experiences of their application are rarely adequately described. The website offers an array of tools including the TECA database currently containing over 500 entries organised in 8 different categories (i.e. 1) production technology - animal production; 2) production technology - crop and horticultural production, grassland; 3) production technology - forest and NTFP (non timber forest products); 4) food and agricultural industries and post harvest (FAIPH) - animal products; 5) FAIPH - crop and horticultural products; 6) FAIPH - forest and NTFP; 7) natural resources management; 8) fishery and fish culture). Biotechnology-related entries can be selected in the database by clicking on `bioteca` in the `Application` field. See http://www.fao.org/sd/teca/index_en.asp (available in English, French and Spanish) or contact [email protected] for more information.
07/09/2005
FAO has just published "Population improvement: A way of exploiting the rice genetic resources of Latin America", edited by E.P. Guimarães. The book contains 17 chapters, written by experts in their field, presenting "a series of theoretical and practical examples of how novel use of a broad genetic base and application of population breeding methods can help push the rice crops production beyond its current yield plateau". Two of the chapters focus on use of molecular markers. The book is a translation of "Mejoramiento poblacional, una alternativa para explorar los recursos genéticos del arroz en América Latina", first published in 2003. See http://www.fao.org/docrep/008/y5843e/y5843e00.HTM or contact [email protected] to request a copy.
06/09/2005
The July 2005 newsletter (nr. 65) 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 now available. The 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. The 31-page newsletter includes, inter alia, a short report from the 2nd FAO/IAEA International Conference on "Area-wide control of insect pests: Integrating the sterile insect and related nuclear and other techniques, held on 9-13 May 2005 in Vienna, Austria, where the potential role of modern biotechnology, including transgenic crops and insects, in area-wide insect pest control applications was also debated. See http://www.iaea.org/programmes/nafa/d4/public/ipc-nl-65.pdf (1.5 MB) or contact [email protected] to subscribe to the newsletter.
05/09/2005
The July 2005 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. The 19-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-15.pdf (1.8 MB) or contact [email protected] to request a copy.
04/09/2005
The UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) is running a web-based discussion forum on "Biotechnology; technical and policy implications in the Near East and North Africa Region" from 1-30 September 2005. The 4 main themes for discussion are biotechnology and food security; policy focus and priority issues; biosafety - recent trends and future prospects and, finally, capacity building in biotechnology. The main language is English but contributions in Arabic may be sent for translation to English and subsequent posting. See http://www.escwa.org.lb/information/meetings/events/bio/main.html or contact [email protected] for more information.
03/09/2005
The World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) publishes three issues of the Scientific and Technical Review journal each year. The latest issue [volume 24 (1)] is dedicated to "Biotechnology applications in animal health and production", edited by A.A. MacKenzie. Containing 35 papers, the issue "provides a comprehensive and thought-provoking overview of the challenges and opportunities that biotechnology presents for veterinary science. It focuses on the application of biotechnology to animal production systems and examines the issues this raises for veterinary services and other administrations involved in animal health, veterinary public health, and food safety". See the issue or contact [email protected] for more information.
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