§ Mrs. RoeTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement on the international biotechnology workshop held at the Queen Elizabeth II conference centre on 17–19 June.
§ Mr. BaldryFurther to my reply of 14 May to the hon. Member for Linlithgow (Mr. Dalyell), the workshop was mounted under the auspices of the United Conference on Environment and Development—UNCED—and attended by some 50 senior international experts from about 30 countries. My Department contributed $80,000—£44,700—towards its cost.
Under the chairmanship of Dr. Nay Htun of the UNCED secretariat, the workshop considered a wide range of factors affecting the assessment and management of risks in biotechnology. The expert advice given will form the basis of proposals to be presented to the UNCED preparatory committee at its third session in Geneva next month.
The encouraging progress made at the workshop augurs well for the consideration of the environmentally sound management of biotechnology at the UNCED "Earth summit," to be held in Brazil in 1992. The United Kingdom will continue to work hard to prepare the ground for the agreement of a set of principles for risk assessment and management as a basis for the development of international guidelines on biotechnology safety.