Canada's position at the recent technical experts meeting of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) which met in Bangkok Feb. 7-11, 2005 is earning a heap of criticism.

The intent of the convention is to protect global bio-diversity including agricultural bio-diversity. An expert working group, which advises the 150 countries which have signed on to the convention, planned to recommend that a moratorium be continued on commercialization and field trials of the genetic engineering which would insert sterility genes.

Called Genetic Use Restriction Technologies (GURTs) by the convention, the genetic engineering is more commonly known by the name given to it by its "inventors" at the US Department of Agriculture, Terminator. It was developed to ensure plant patent protection but there is fear that it could spread into the natural environment and that people, especially the poor in developing countires, would become wholly dependent on big bio-tech firms for seed to grow their own food.

The experts also asked that legislation be passed to ban GURTs and the potential impact of GURTs on the environment, farmers, Farmers Rights to preserve seeds, indigenous and local communities be studied. This data and information should be broadly available in a transparent way to ensure a proper risk assessment is done.

Only three countries out of the 133 countries attending, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, stood against the consensus document. An industry representative also said GURTs should not be considered any different from other biotechnologies.

Amendments suggested by a number of other countires eventually led to an agreement which did retain the moratorium on GURTs for now but left open future considerations. Critics say that Canada is pushing to open the door to a technology which is biohazard.

Earth Negotiations Bulletin. SBTTA-10 - highlights, Feb. 9, 2005, http://www.iisd.ca/vol09/enb09303e.html

Reproduced from the March-April 2005 EFAO News, Volume 26, Number 2.