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The United Nations meeting on the safe use of living modified organisms, or Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD), begins here on Monday, with hundreds of delegates representing about 200 countries participating.
Masamichi Saigo, Representative of COP-MOP 5 (Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety), President (Japan), has declared open the 19-day conference that is going to discuss the safe handling and transfer of LMOs.
Addressing the inaugural, Jayanti Natarajan, Minister of Environment and Forests, has said that it was no easy task balancing modern technology and impact on biosafety. "There are no shortcuts in achieving this balance. LMOs (living modified organisms) is a controversial issue with concerns on long-term impact on ecology and conservation," she said.
India signed the supplementary protocol on liabilities last year. "We urge all other countries to fast track ratification. We need to follow the protocol in letter and spirit," she said.
She said investments in biotechnology are increasing significantly in several countries. "We need science-based regulation in this regard," she said.
The meeting of the Parties to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (COP MOP 6), or the Convention on Biological Diversity’ (CBD), will discuss and adopt further decisions to contribute to ensuring the safe transfer, handling and use of LMOs, resulting from modern biotechnology.
These will include decisions to advance the implementation of the 10-year Strategic Plan for the Protocol adopted in 2010. The decisions at the meeting would help make biological diversity adequately protected from any adverse effects of LMOs.
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