The United Nations meeting on the safe use of Living Modified Organisms, or the Parties Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (COP MOP 6), began at HICC Convention Centre here on Monday.
Masamichi Saigo, Representative of COP-MOP 6 (Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety), President (Japan), has declared open the 19-day conference which was attended by hundreds of delegates from about 200 countries participating. The conference will be discussing the safe handling and transfer of LMOs.
Addressing the inaugural session of 19-day conference, Union Minister for Environment and Forests Jayanti Natarajan said that it was not an easy task to balance modern technology and impact on biosafety. “There are no shortcuts in achieving this balance. LMOs (living modified organisms) is a controversial issue with concerns on long-term impact on ecology and conservation,” she said.
Recalling that the India has already signed the supplementary protocol on liabilities last year, the minister urged all other countries to fast track ratification. She emphasised that the protocol must be followed in in letter and spirit. She also advocated science-based regulation in view of significant increase in the investments in biotechnology in several countries.
Speaking on the occasion, Governor ESL Narasimhan emphasised the need for all countries to jointly tackle the issues relating to health and hunger. He also expressed concern over the threat to the environment due to the extensive use of pesticides in the farming sector. He also called upon the conference to hold detailed discussions on the depletion of water resources and decrease in irrigated lands and come out with suitable remedial measures.
COP MOP 6, a five-day meet will conclude on October 5. This will be followed by the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP 11) between October 8 and 19 and is expected to see the participation of heads of countries and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Around 2,000 delegates from more than 150 countries are participate in COP MOP 6, which will discuss and adopt further decisions to ensure the safe transfer, handling and use of living modified organisms (LMOs) resulting from modern biotechnology. (INN)