§ Mr. BrakeTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what the Government's objectives are in the negotiation of the Biosafety Protocol to the Convention on Biological Diversity. [59651]
§ Mr. MealeThe Government's objective in the negotiation of the Biosafety Protocol to the Convention on Biological Diversity is to secure a broad protocol covering the transboundary movements of all living modified organisms (LMOs) resulting from modern biotechnology which may have an adverse effect on the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity or human health. Importing countries should have adequate information and capacity to be able to make informed decisions about how to control transboundary movements of such organisms. For this reason, the Government are pressing in the negotiations for effective advance informed agreement procedures, in line with the precautionary principle, extensive information exchange, provisions on risk assessment, and capacity building. There should be clear labelling of LMOs, consistent with our domestic and European Community policy on labelling of genetically modified organisms. The Government will work towards an instrument that will attract a maximum number of countries to ratify it. In this way, the Biosafety Protocol and the UNEP International Technical Guidelines for Safety in Biotechnology, should provide a sound international framework for safety in biotechnology.