The Biosafety Protocol, agreed after five years of
                 work, will regulate trade in order to protect the
                 environment

                 MONTREAL -- Negotiators reached an agreement
                 yesterday on international trade rules for genetically
                 modified organisms, after five years of work.

                 Once it enters into force, the Biosafety Protocol will
                 regulate trade in genetically altered plants, animals or
                 even microbes, and the products made from them, with
                 a view to protecting the environment.

                 The deal required deep compromises from Canada and
                 the United States, the European Union and developing
                 countries -- which last year had been unable to reach an
                 agreement at a similar conference in Cartagena,
                 Colombia.

                 "After one week of passions, enthusiasm, good ideas
                 and sadness, we have been able to achieve the current
                 protocol, which was blocked in Cartagana in 1999,"
                 said Colombia's Environment Minister and president of
                 the conference Juan Mayr Maldonado.

                 "We have all had to give something in order to get this
                 protocol."

                 The sweeping new accord covers a wide array of foods,
                 animal feed and raw materials.

                 Unlike other international pacts that seek to reconcile
                 environmental and trade interests, the Biosafety Protocol
                 is the first to tackle an issue before a problem arises.

                 Other treaties dealt with endangered species, global
                 warming and toxic chemicals only after dangers were
                 established.

                 And none of those treaties tackled as big an industry as
                 agriculture or biotechnology.

                 Officials said the new agreement seeks to prevent
                 environmental damage, while giving countries some
                 leeway in setting their own safety standards.

                 However, the accord left vague the exact relationship
                 between the protocol and the WTO, except to say that
                 "trade and environmental agreements should be mutually
                 supportive".

                 The text essentially took a wait-and-see approach,
                 because no one was certain what might happen if a trade
                 dispute over biotechnology were to reach the WTO
                 panel for a decision.

                 An estimated 39.9 million hectares of land worldwide
                 was planted with bio-engineered seeds last year. -- AFP
 
 

                 BIOSAFETY PROTOCOL: What it entails

                  THE treaty requires an explicit prior agreement
                 between exporters and importers before trading in living
                 organisms whose genes have been modified by
                 scientists, including seeds, animals and even microbes.

                  It requires documentation, and gives weight to
                 obligations under the pact comparable to those found in
                 the WTO.

                  It also requires exporters to indicate if a shipment of
                 goods could contain any genetically modified ingredients,
                 although they do not have to specify which.

                       Adapted from The Straits TImes, 30 Jan 2000.