www.czu.cz ; www.raupp.info

The importance of public participation in decision-making has been
increasingly recognized by policy makers. Specifically, the public can be
involved in various aspects of the decision-making process with regards
genetically modified organisms (GMOs). These can be in national policy
dialogues, developing a regulatory framework for GMOs, approval of
individual GM products, and post-release monitoring, December 2004.

Three recently adopted international instruments are of special relevance
to public participation in decision-making about GMOs. These are the Aarhus
Convention (i.e. the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE)
Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making
and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters; the Cartagena Protocol on
Biosafety to the Convention on Biological Diversity; and the Codex
principles on risk analysis.

These are some points in a background document released by the Food and
Agriculture Organization in preparation for an e-mail conference entitled
"Public participation in decision-making regarding genetically modified
organisms (GMOs) in developing countries: How to effectively involve rural
people?.

The e-mail conference runs from 17 January to 13 February 2005 and is hosted
by the FAO Biotechnology Forum. To join the Forum (and also register for the
conference), send an e-mail to mailserv@mailserv.fao.org leaving the subject
blank and entering only the following text on two separate lines: subscribe
BIOTECH-L subscribe biotech-room4.

[www.fao.org]

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