Informal talks began Thursday. The meeting is sponsored by the U.N. Environmental Program and is an extension of failed talks 11 months ago in Cartagena, Colombia, on what is called the Biosafety Protocol. The Cartagena meeting collapsed when the United States, Canada, Australia, Uruguay, Argentina and Chile blocked a draft accepted by 125 other countries. The U.S. and other grain-exporting countries demanded that commodities such as corn and soy beans be exempted from strict controls even though they account for most of the global trade in genetically modified goods. Critics of genetic engineering say gene-splicing has the potential for environmental catastrophe.
Proponents say such arguments ignore the promise and benefits to humanity of scientific advancement.
Stabinsky and other speakers said that as genetically modified plants crossbreed and evolve, the dangers range from disrupting natural processes to causing extinctions. This week, with Washington even more on the defensive after months of international protest and concern about the uncertainties of genetically modified food, delegates from more than 130 nations will try to negotiate a breakthrough. Negotiations in Cartagena, Colombia, collapsed last February when the United States and five other big grain-exporting nations rejected a proposal supported by the other countries that would have required exporters of genetically modified corn, soybeans and other crops to obtain permission in advance from the importing country. Since then, public concern about possible health and ecological risks of biotechnology foods has intensified in Europe and spread to other countries. In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration recently held three public hearings on the subject.