The Use of GM Crops in Developing Countries
Regulatory and ethical issues
National administrative and technical capacity of regulating the use of GM crops in developing countries
5.23 We have noted that a number of the international agreements require the regulation of GM crops by administrative and technical measures at the national level. However, costs for provision of the relevant authorities which could undertake and verify risk assessment procedures are considerable, as is evident from the comprehensive European regulatory framework. It is not yet clear how different developing countries will respond to the requirement of establishing such regulations. We are likely to see considerable variation between developing countries. A recent document produced by the UK Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit on the implications for developing countries of GM crops suggests that there is some pattern in this variability.13 Across eleven countries it assesses the capacity to undertake biotechnology assessments as ranging from advanced, in countries such as China, India and Brazil, to weak or non-existent in Kenya, Zambia and Mozambique.14 However, even this classification may be too general to be useful. The capacity of national agricultural research systems also varies widely. Weaknesses at the national level are often accompanied by weaknesses at the local level, particularly in agricultural extension systems.
5.24 At present, most developing countries do not have appropriate legal and administrative systems in place to regulate biotechnology-related activities as required by the Cartagena Protocol.15 However, initiatives such as the joint project by the United Nations Environment Programme and the Global Environment Facility (UNEP/GEF) on the Development of National Biosafety Frameworks (2002-2004) have recently been initiated. The aims of the project are to prepare parties of the Cartagena Protocol for entry into force of the treaty; to assist countries which are eligible under GEF to prepare frameworks for national biosafety; and to facilitate regional cooperation between countries.16 The project brings together more than 100 countries and has close working relations with other relevant organisations.17 It has received support from the UK Department for International Development (DFID), which seeks to devise guidelines for participation by the public in decision making processes for biosafety frameworks, and also from the EC. The EC recently offered to fund an initiative to help develop guidelines for establishing risk assessment and management systems for participating countries.18
5.25 It is of particular importance that developing countries improve their capacity to independently review and assess the use of GM crops in specific situations. As one respondent to our Consultation observed: ‘There is a very urgent requirement to empower developing countries to make their own risk/benefit assessments and decisions to implement technologies, based on their local needs. Otherwise they will remain the victims of others’ agendas. Key elements are capacity building in biosafety assessment and intellectual property management…’ Dr Ray Mathias, John Innes Centre, UK
We share this view and emphasise that those involved in the use and regulation of GM crops in developing countries need to decide on suitable devices and procedures to govern the use of GM crops themselves. Since means for the development of the required expertise are limited in most developing countries, we welcome and endorse the UNEP/GEF undertaking of promoting the building of capacity in relevant expertise.
Footnotes13 The UK Strategy Unit has published a working paper considering the potential economic impact of the commercialisation of GM crops in the UK on developing countries, see Strategy Unit (2003) Developing Country Background Working Paper: Potential UK impact on developing countries. Available: http://www.number-10.gov.uk/su/gm/developing.pdf. Accessed on: 30 Oct 2003.
14 Strategy Unit (2003) Developing Country Background Working Paper: Potential UK impact on developing countries, p35. Available: http://www.number-10.gov.uk/su/gm/developing.pdf. Accessed on: 30 Oct 2003.
15 United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) – Global Environment Facility (GEF) Project on the Development of National Biosafety Frameworks Business Plan for 2002-2004 (Geneva, Switzerland: UNEP); Kinderlerer J (2002) Regulation on Biotechnology: needs and burdens for developing countries. Available: http://www.unep.ch/biosafety/BTregulationJK.pdf. Accessed on: 23 March 2003.
16 UNEP – GEF Project on the Development of National Biosafety Frameworks Business Plan for 2002-2004 (Geneva, Switzerland: UNEP), paragraph 1.2.
17 Such as the Bureau of the Intergovernmental Committee on the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (ICCP), the Secretariat of the CBD, the World Bank, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB).
18 UNEP - GEF Project on the Development of National Biosafety Frameworks Business Plan for 2002-2004 (Geneva, Switzerland: UNEP), paragraph A4.3.