3.8 million children die each year from preventable water-borne diseases. To ensure acceptable water quality for human consumption and ecosystem survival, the highest priority should go to programmes that reduce the generation of solid, liquid and airborne wastes. In addition, there must be adequate containment and treatment of the remaining wastes from these sources that cannot be eliminated. And priority is to conserve water and avoid needless waste, in part by treating water as a valuable commodity and pricing it to reflect the real costs of supply. My final message relates to the health risks associated with biotechnology.
Biotechnology is an important tool for fighting hunger.
The new techniques of biotechnology will be important to meet the world's continuing need for increased and sustainable food production. But we must recognize that safety is the paramount concern with any new technology or production process. Clearly, there is a need to define the pathway for the commercialization of genetically modified products as they move from the laboratory to the field, and, finally to the marketplace. It must be a system that is designed to carefully evaluate products for risks to human, animal and plant health, and for risks to environmental safety. So there is an urgent need for a protocol on biosafety.