Georgetown: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), through the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment, will be hosting a series of Public Consultations on the Draft Biosafety / Biotechnology and Biosecurity Legislation (Act and Regulations), from Wednesday to October 15, 2014, within various administrative regions of Guyana.
These consultations are aimed at facilitating public review and discussion of the Legislation pending its finalisation, the ministry said in a release. Guyana became a Party to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (UNCBD) on August 29, 1994, subsequently signing on to the supplemental agreement the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (CPB) which entered into force on September 11, 2003.
As a Party to the UNCBD, Guyana is expected to implement measures to support effective implementation of Modern Biotechnology involving the use of GMOs/LMO-FFPs: one such measure is the development of a National Biosafety Framework (NBF). A key focus of the NBF is to ensure that GMOs/LMO-FFPs introduced into the environment, either intentionally or by accident, would not impact negatively on the Caribbean region’s biodiversity.
The National Biosafety /Biotechnology and Biosecurity Legislation is one (1) of five (5) components to be implemented through the NBF, providing critical support to the National Policy on Biosafety / Biotechnology and Biosecurity previously finalised. The primary objective is that through the development of the National Biosafety/Biotechnology and Biosecurity Legislation, appropriate measures will be taken to minimize any potential risk, and to set a platform for the wise implementation of biotechnology initiatives.
The document is available for the public to review and make comments at www.nre.gov.gy and www.epaguyana.org; comments on the document can be submitted to benticknbf@gmail.com by October 31, 2014. The Agency requests that comments be referenced by stating the page number and paragraph number before the comment.
