Negotiators from around the world will meet this month to start hammering out text for an agreement that is expected to be an important tool for international trade involving transgenic products.
The biosafety protocol will be legally binding on countries that ratify it, said John Herity, part of Canada’s negotiating team.
Herity, who works for Environment Canada, said the protocol is supposed to be complete by next November.
Different parts of the world are bringing different concerns to the table, Herity told a recent Canada Grains Council conference.
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Developing countries are looking at biotechnology as a tool for prosperity, and a way to preserve natural resources.
Other negotiators come from an environmental background rather than a scientific one.
“The misinformation … is rampant in these discussions,” said Herity, adding it’s hard to distinguish between rhetoric and valid concerns.
Other countries are worried about the effect of biotechnology on their culture. Herity said Ethiopian peasant farmers don’t necessarily want their work made easier through transgenic crops because they don’t want to put people out of work.
As well, Canada is chairing an international committee hoping to come up with standards for labeling transgenic foods.
Complicated process
Stephen Yarrow, of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, said the Codex Alimentarius committee is working through a long process.
Canada, the U.S. and Mexico want labels to identify allergens, material from beef fat, lard and pork fat, or material differing in composition from existing food.
Australia and New Zealand are proposing mandatory labels, while the European Union keeps changing its position.
The Consumers Association of Canada believes labels should be a tool to help consumers make choices, but not a forum for debate about biotechnology.
Lee Ann Murphy, an agrologist who is part of the association’s food committee, said Canada has one of the best risk assessment systems in the world for keeping food safe.
But consumers want to know how ethical and moral concerns about transferring genes between species will be dealt with.
“They have to be addressed, they need to be talked about,” said Murphy. “We don’t feel it has to be under the regulatory framework.”
A 1994 survey showed more than half of Canadians are undecided or reluctant supporters of biotechnology. The rest are about equally split between the two extremes on the issue.
