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  • Side Events (2627)

Meetings

Subjects

Aichi Targets

Date

Side Event

Synthetic biology, new breeding technologies and LMOs – the need to map gaps in regulation and risk assessment and how to address them.

Organizer
EcoNexus

Date and Time
25 June 2014 13:15 - 14:45

Meeting
Eighteenth meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice

This side event gives an overview of the various DNA based technologies currently in use or development, asking the question: "What is covered by risk assessments, and where are the gaps?" We will present the different technologies, including the new breeding and genome editing technologies, and ask if there are moves to get them excluded from any assessment or labelling regimes. Given the overlap of synthetic biology and LMO technologies, should the CBD and the Cartagena protocol on Biosafety work together to explore which aspects of synthetic biology might already be covered by the protocol and which are not? Which additional questions and aspects need to be addressed for a robust risk assessment, in line with the precautionary principle as outlined by the protocol? Are some national implementations of the Protocol covering a narrower range of LMOs than the Protocol itself? How do we address contained use and develop containment policies for synthetic biology without agreed assessment frameworks? How do we identify the gaps in the landscape, the blank spots on the map of risk assessment? Some countries hope that synthetic biology will promote economic growth and solve difficult problems ranging from ecosystem remediation to the production of ‘advanced’ biofuels. We ask how the risks can be rigorously assessed in such a political and economic context and also how the public can be genuinely involved in assessing proposed applications. Side event held by: EcoNexus, Ecoropa and Federation of German Scientists.