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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.
01/12/2004
The OECD Environmental Health and Safety Division has just published the "Consensus document on compositional considerations for new varieties of barley (Hordeum vulgare L.): Key food and feed nutrients and anti-nutrients". It is number 12 in its Series on the Safety of Novel Foods and Feeds. See http://appli1.oecd.org/olis/2004doc.nsf/linkto/env-jm-mono(2004)20 or contact [email protected] for more information.
15/11/2004
The FAO "Glossary of biotechnology for food and agriculture", published in 2001 as FAO Research and Technology Paper 9, has now been translated into Spanish, entitled "Glosario de biotecnología para la agricultura y la alimentación". Apart from a translation of the over 3,000 terms and definitions contained in the original English glossary, the 510-page publication also contains an additional English-Spanish vocabulary of biotechnology-related terms. The Spanish translation was carried out by the Cátedra Alfonso Martín Escudero in the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, and coordinated by its Director, Ignacio Trueba. The translators were M.J. Fraga Fernández Cuevas, P. Rodríguez Palenzuela, E. Cabrera Ordóñez and A. Alfonso Gallegos. The publication is available, both in PDF and as a searchable database, at http://www.fao.org/biotech/index_glossary.asp?lang=es. The French translation of the glossary was also published by FAO in October 2004. Contact FAO to request a copy of either the Spanish or French glossary.
13/11/2004
The 10th Regular Session of the Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture took place on 8-12 November 2004 at FAO Headquarters, Rome. One of the Working Documents prepared for the meeting was entitled "Progress on the Draft Code of Conduct on Biotechnology as it relates to genetic resources for food and agriculture: policy issues, gaps and duplications". See Document CGRFA-10/04/13, available in Arabic, Chinese, English, French and Spanish, at http://www.fao.org/ag/cgrfa/docs10.htm or contact [email protected] for more information.
12/11/2004
On 3-6 November 2003, a workshop on "Agricultural biotechnology and biosafety for food security and rural development in the Caucasus region and Moldova was held in Yerevan, Armenia, organised jointly by FAO and the UNESCO Chair, Life Sciences International Educational Center, Yerevan. Proceedings of the workshop are now available, including summaries of country presentations; keynote papers on livestock and crop biotechnology and intellectual property rights and biosafety; and an overview of FAO`s initiatives in agricultural biotechnology and biosafety. The proceedings also include a report entitled "Status of agricultural biotechnology and biosafety in selected countries of the Balkans, the Caucasus and Moldova" that was commissioned by FAO`s Research and Technology Development Service and the FAO Regional Office for Europe. See http://www.fao.org/sd/dim_kn4/kn4_041001_en.htm (in English, overview in Arabic, French and Spanish) or contact [email protected] to request a copy.
11/11/2004
FAO`s Agricultural Support Systems Division has just published "Processed foods for improved livelihoods", by P. Fellows, as Number 5 in its FAO Diversification Booklets series. The 65-page publication describes some of the opportunities and constraints faced by communities in developing countries that wish to introduce or improve food processing. It focuses on secondary processing, in which fresh foods or the products of primary processing are made into a wide range of processed foods (e.g. products such as bread, wine/beer, fermented pickles, yoghurt etc., obtained by adequate use of beneficial microorganisms). FAO Diversification Booklets aim to raise awareness and provide information about opportunities at the farm and local community level to increase small-scale farmer income. Their main target audience is people and organizations that provide advisory, business and technical support services to small-scale farmers and local communities in low- and middle-income countries. See http://www.fao.org/tempref/docrep/fao/006/y5113e/y5113e00.pdf or contact FAO to request a copy.
10/11/2004
A paper entitled "Conservation strategies for animal genetic resources", by D.R. Notter, has just been published as Number 22 in the Background Study Paper series of the Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. The paper contrasts opportunities, challenges, biological characteristics, institutional infrastructure and operational considerations influencing management of plant and animal genetic resources. It also summarises main threats to livestock genetic resources and outlines areas of greatest opportunity for better management of these resources. Potential impacts of biotechnology on animal genetic resources are also considered. See ftp://ext-ftp.fao.org/ag/cgrfa/BSP/bsp22e.pdf or contact [email protected] for more information.
09/11/2004
The FAO Legal Office and Animal Production and Health Division jointly prepared a paper entitled "The legal framework for the management of animal genetic resources" that has just been published as Number 24 in the Background Study Paper series of the Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. It reports the findings of a study of the international and national legal framework applicable to the conservation and sustainable use of farm animal genetic resources. The paper, based on responses to a questionnaire completed by 55 countries as well as additional research, describes the state of the development of relevant international law, reviews the approaches taken and problems identified in national legislation, as well as national implementation of the relevant international law. One of the international legally binding instruments it discusses is the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety. See ftp://ext-ftp.fao.org/ag/cgrfa/BSP/bsp24e.pdf or contact FAO for more information.
08/11/2004
The web-based "Compendium on Post-harvest Operations" describes issues of key importance to post-harvest operations or post-production activities for staple foods and edible crops, providing technical information (e.g. on eventual fermentation processes) about what is done after production of different crops in communities around the world. It has recently been expanded to include an additional 10 chapters. The compendium is part of the Information Network on Post-harvest Operations, designed by FAO with the support and collaboration of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) and the Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (CIRAD). See http://www.fao.org/inpho/compend/toc_main.htm or contact [email protected] for more information.
07/11/2004
As Number 11 in its Issues in Genetic Resources series, the International Plant Genetic Resources Institute (IPGRI) has just published "The evolving role of genebanks in the fast-developing field of molecular genetics", edited by M.C. de Vicente. In addition to an introductory chapter by the editor, the publication includes five papers that "will be a valuable reference for those interested in genebanks and their relation with the modern, fast-moving fields of the molecular sciences". Papers in the publication are based on discussions held during an expert consultation meeting in León, Spain in November 2002. FAO, FECYT (Fundación Española para la Ciencia y la Tecnología), INIA (Instituto Nacional de Investigación y Tecnología Agraria y Alimentaria), IPGRI, SGRP (CGIAR System-wide Genetic Resources Programme) and USAID (U.S. Agency for International Development) collaborated with organising the meeting and/or publishing this document. See http://www.ipgri.cgiar.org/publications/pdf/986.pdf or contact [email protected] for more information.
06/11/2004
A series of six sub-regional workshops on "Development of a regulatory regime and administrative systems for national biosafety frameworks" was held between October 2003 and May 2004, convened by the UNEP-GEF Biosafety Project Team in collaboration with the Governments of each of the host countries. A 9-page synthesis report has just been published, summarising the deliberations and conclusions of the workshops. Of related interest, the latest UNEP-GEF Biosafety newsletter (September 2004) is now available. See http://www.unep.ch/biosafety/resources.htm or contact [email protected] for more information.
05/11/2004
The 4th meeting of the Working Group on GMOs established under the Aarhus Convention (i.e. the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters) took place on 18-20 October 2004 in Geneva, Switzerland. The meeting agenda and draft decision prepared for the meeting are available on the web (in English, French and Russian) and the meeting report and the amended draft decision will soon be available. In addition, the report of the 3rd meeting of the Working Group on GMOs, which took place on 24-26 March 2004 in Geneva, Switzerland, is now available in English, French and Russian. See http://www.unece.org/env/pp/gmo.htm or contact [email protected] for more information.
03/11/2004
The Institute for New Technologies (INTECH) of the United Nations University (UNU) has just published Issue 1, Volume 3 of its Technology Policy Briefs series, entitled "Agricultural biotechnology research partnerships in sub-Saharan Africa: Achievements, challenges and policy issues". In this 12-page document the main findings of a sub-regional study covering Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania are reported, together with relevant policy issues derived from the analysis. See http://www.intech.unu.edu/publications/technology-policy-briefs/tpb_list.htm (in English, abstract in French and Spanish) or contact [email protected] for more information.
02/11/2004
The Genetic Resources Policy Committee and the Science Council of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) jointly organized a workshop entitled Technical issues associated with the development of CGIAR policies to address the possibility of adventitious presence of transgenes in CGIAR ex situ collections on 30 August - 1 September 2004 at the headquarters of the International Plant Genetic Resources Institute (IPGRI), Italy. The general objective of the workshop was to provide technical inputs to initiate a process to develop a system-wide policy (or policies) concerning how to respond to the probability of unintentional introgression of transgenes into the ex situ collections held by the international agricultural research centres of the CGIAR. Based on technical information from the workshop, the Genetic Resources Policy Committee drew up "Draft guidelines for the development of Future Harvest centres` policies to address the possibility of unintentional presence of trangenes in ex situ collections". See the workshop presentations, the workshop report and the draft guidelines at http://www.ipgri.cgiar.org/Policy/GMOWorkshop/ or contact [email protected] for more information.
01/11/2004
The International Plant Genetic Resources Institute (IPGRI) has recently published "Descriptors for genetic markers technologies" by M.C. De Vicente, T. Metz and A. Alercia. This list of descriptors is an effort to define community standards for documenting information about genetic markers and is targeted to researchers using genetic marker technologies to generate and exchange genetic marker data that are standardized and replicable. See http://www.ipgri.cgiar.org/publications/pdf/913.pdf or contact [email protected] for more information.
24/10/2004
The FAO "Glossary of biotechnology for food and agriculture", published in 2001 as FAO Research and Technology Paper 9, has now been translated into French, entitled "Glossaire de la biotechnologie pour lalimentation et lagriculture". Apart from a translation of the over 3,000 terms and definitions contained in the original English glossary, the 427-page publication also contains an additional English-French vocabulary of biotechnology-related terms. The French translation was compiled by M. Atallah, with an extensive revision by M. Tepfer and A. Eggen. The publication is available both in PDF and as a searchable database, at http://www.fao.org/biotech/index_glossary.asp?lang=fr. Alternatively, contact FAO to request a copy of the publication.
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