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A
new international theme: “BIOSECURITY”
IN FOOD AND AGRICULTURE Discussions
at the FAO Alfonso
Torres, DVM. PhD., NYS
Animal Heath Diagnostic Laboratory, Cornell
University
The purpose of this paper is to summarize discussions at the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on the topic of Biosecurity in Food and Agriculture. The FAO Committee on Agriculture commissioned these initiatives in 2001. As a result of this mandate, the FAO organized an Expert Consultation on“Biosecurity in Food and Agriculture” held in Rome in September of 2002 with the participation of ten international experts and representatives from several international organizations. One of the objectives of the Expert Consultation was to organize a follow up meeting with the participation of a large number of nations. That meeting took the form of a Technical Consultation on “Biological Risk Management for Food and Agriculture” held at Bangkok in January 2003. Representatives from 38 counties, mostly developing countries and nine international organizations participated at this gathering. While invited to attend, neither the United States nor members of the European Union participated at this gathering. One
of the challenges of these discussions is that “Biosecurity”
is a relatively new concept, and a term with still evolving meanings. A
recent Internet search for the term “Biosecurity” yielded
some 60,000 documents, 1,000 groups and 600 images. The FAO defines
Biosecurity in a much broader context than the one in used in the US,
particularly in recent times. For the purpose of the international
discussions, the following definitions of “Biosecurity” and
“Biosafety” has been used (1):
An additional complication to the broad and diverse use
of the term “Biosecurity” is that in many languages,
particularly in Spanish, French and Italian, there are no different
words to differentiate between “Biosecurity”
from “Biosafety”. For that reason it was recommended
that these terms be used in italics and not be translated in official
documents. The
concept of “Biosecurity” applies to three main sectors: animal
life and health; plant life and health; and food safety. Participants at
these international meetings acknowledged that achieving Biosecurity
required understanding and managing diverse and complex risks and
measures, and that this had to be accomplished while respecting
differences among sectors and organizations. In that regard, there are
extensive guidelines and directives from the three “WTO Sisters”,
namely the Office international
des épizooties (OIE) for
animal health; the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) for
plant health; and the Codex
Alimentarius Commission for food safety. These three main sectors
also include the introduction and release of genetically modified
organisms (GMOs), live modified organisms (LMOs), and invasive alien
species and genotypes. For these activities, guidelines are found in
other international agreements, particularly the Convention
on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety
(2). It should be noted here that the CBD is in the process of being
ratified by the international community, and it is not in effect yet.
The United States government has indicated no interest in ratifying the
CBD at this time. There
is good international consensus that in order to achieve “Biosecurity”
countries require a greater understanding of, and the ability to
analyze diverse and complex risks, and determine and apply measures in a
coherent manner, while respecting differences among involved sectors and
organizations. It was also concluded that a holistic and coordinated
risk analysis is the most important unifying concept across different
“Biosecurity” sectors. Such efforts will require that
countries should determine the potential for synergies and harmonization
within their national (federal) and sub-national (state) regulatory
frameworks. It was also indicated that while the risk analysis procedures
may differ depending on the hazards addressed, the general principles
for risk analysis in food and agriculture are the same (3). The big task
will be to harmonize or coordinate the different risk analysis
guidelines that the OIE, the IPPC, the Codex Alimentarius, and
the CBD (and its Cartagena Protocol) are promulgating.
One of the big challenges, especially for less developed countries, and for countries in transition (a term used for the former Soviet Union countries) is the need for coordinated and sustainable capacity building as the challenges of “Biosecurity” are placing increasing demands on their regulatory infrastructure. Capacity building is needed in many areas, including communicational, legal, institutional, scientific and technical aspects. Another important global need is to facilitate improved communication among countries on these activities. To that extend, FAO, in collaboration with relevant organizations, is proposing the development of a publicly accessible, Internet-based “Biosecurity” portal mechanism for exchange of official information on, animal and plant health, food safety and the environment. It is hoped that through these efforts, countries should ensure adequate opportunities for appropriate participation of all stakeholders, including members of the public, in addressing “Biosecurity” issues, enabling them to contribute in the design and implementation of “Biosecurity” risk management actions (4). The final recommendations from the Bangkok meeting will be presented to the next meeting of the FAO Committee on Agriculture later this year for their endorsement and support in the continuation of FAO involvement in these areas. Consequently, while there is no short-term effect in the way that we in the United States handle these issues, it is important to all of us to be aware of these international efforts that could change the way in which we deal with trading partners in the future. Finally, it is also important to be aware that the term “Biosecurity” has a different broader international meaning than the one that the meaning that we assigned to this word these days (2). Complete references are found at FAO web site: www.fao.org/ES/ESN/food/meetings_biosecurity_en.stm#background Selected
references from above:
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