Washington, DC
February 24, 2005
The International Cotton Advisory
Committee has released its second Expert Panel on
Biotechnology in Cotton report. It discusses issues associated
with biotech cotton by updating the first report, and
specifically addresses biosafety issues as well as potential
benefits and challenges for biotech cotton adoption in the
developing world. Chaired by Dr. Gary Fitt of the Commonwealth
Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) in
Australia, the committee came up with the following
recommendations for the adoption of biotech cotton by developing
countries:
- All countries should to be
free to make their own decisions about adoption of biotech
cotton or other products of modern biotechnology
unconstrained by philosophical, ideological, or economic
pressures from outside
- Develop a centralized
regulatory process that is clear, rigorous, expeditious,
harmonized and science based, that requires testing to
demonstrate benefits and follow-up procedures to ensure
sustainability
- Ensure that legislation is
in place to protect both the germplasm and the technology
- Develop technical teams
that can educate farmers and support the use of new
technology
- Encourage the adoption of
the best technology in varieties with demonstrated local
performance
- Include biotech cotton as
one component of an integrated farming system supporting
adoption of IPM (Integrated Pest management) or IWM
(Integrated Weed management), not as a replacement or
alternative technology.
Executive summaries of the
report are available online in PDF format:
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