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Biosafety Clearing-House News
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The Secretariat is pleased to announce the release of Issue 7 of the Biosafety Protocol News. It focuses on experiences and lessons learned in facilitating the exchange of information on, and experience with, Living Modified Organisms (LMOs) through the Biosafety Clearing-House (BCH). The purpose of this issue is to enable governments and other stakeholders to share and benefit from the experiences, good practices and lessons learned from different BCH activities. This issue features articles from Africa, Asia, Central and Eastern Europe and Latin America.
-BCH Tutorials are now available on YouTube-
As announced on 5 February 2010, the Secretariat has completed and made available for download all five BCH Tutorials in English, French and Spanish (accessible in MS PowerPoint, AVI, WMV and DVD formats).
We are now pleased to further announce that all tutorials can also be watched directly on the BCH or YouTube as follows:
· BCH Pages: http://bch.cbd.int/help/tutorials/
· YouTube BCH channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/bchcpb
We hope that you will continue to find this tool useful and recommend it to all BCH users.
Following up on a request by the Parties, the Secretariat launched in February the Second Series of Regional Real-time Online Conferences under the Open-ended Online Expert Forum on Risk Assessment and Risk Management. Two Real-time Online Conferences were held last week for Africa, and Asia and the Pacific regions. Two additional conferences will be held for WEOG and CEE, on 9 February (in English from 10:00 to 14:00 GMT) and for Latin America and the Caribbean, on 11 February (in Spanish from 15:00 to 19:00 GMT). All registered BCH Users may access the Real-time Online Conferences at as "Guests" to follow the discussions as they take place. The Real-time Online Conferences are accessible at http://bch.cbd.int/onlineconferences/realtime_ra.shtml .
Nouveau module du tutoriel du Centre d’échange pour la prévention des risques biotechnologiques (CEPRB) maintenant disponible en Français. // New BCH Tutorial module on Registering Information now available in French.
[English text at the bottom]
Le nouveau module du tutoriel du Centre d’échange pour la prévention des risques biotechnologiques (CEPRB) (Module 4) est maintenant disponible en Français dans la section "Enregistrement d'information" au http://bch.cbd.int/help/tutorial.shtml
Le nouveau module (disponible en formats MS PowerPoint, AVI, WMV et DVD) explique en détail comment enregistrer l'information dans le centre d'échange via le Centre de gestion nouvellement remanié.
Nous espérons que vous trouverez cet outil utile et le recommanderez à tous les utilisateurs du CEPRB.
Les versions Anglaise et Espagnole du tutoriel sont disponibles depuis le 27 novembre 2009 et sont accessibles au site web mentionné plus haut.
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The new BCH Tutorial module on the 'Registering Information’ section (Module 4).has now been made available in French at http://bch.cbd.int/help/tutorial.shtml
The new module (available in MS PowerPoint, AVI, WMV and DVD formats) explains in detail how to register information in the BCH through the newly revamped Management Centre.
We hope you will find this tool useful and recommend it to all BCH users.
English and Spanish versions of the tutorial were released on 27 November 2009 and are also accessible at the above website.
An online Forum has been launched on the Biosafety Clearing-House, at http://bch.cbd.int/onlineconferences/spforum.shtml, which is designed to provide the opportunity for you to make comments on (1) the updated draft elements of the Strategic Plan and (2) the proposed framework for the second Assessment and Review of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety under Article 35. Both documents are available for download on the Forum website. More...
A study of users and potential users of the BCH has been launched and a survey has been prepared as a part of this process. The survey will be available online at http://bch.cbd.int/resources/bch-survey/ for completion until 31 January 2010. All BCH users are encouraged to participate in this survey and share it with the widest range of users and potential users of the BCH. More...
Korean scientists have discovered ways to produce putrescine from biomass such as glucose and sucrose. Further, the research team, led by Professor Sang Yup Lee at KAIST said that they have succeeded in modifying the bio-synthesis pathway of the bacterium E. coli to mass produce putrescine. The researchers relied on metabolic engineering to enable the E. coli strain consuming one kilogram of glucose to produce 170 grams of putrescine that is used to synthesize nylon and other chemicals.
* Metabolic Engineering refers to biotechnology that enables the directed modification of the metabolic pathway of cells or bacteria strains through techniques of molecular biology and chemical engineering. Metabolic engineering is widely used in a variety of biotechnological fields for the enhancement and suppression of the existing metabolites, production of new metabolites, decomposition of non-degradable organic compounds, and genetic isolation and purification of matters to improve processes.
August 31, 2009
Korea’s Rural Development Administration (“RDA”) said in August 17 that it produced a rice variety that has been genetically modified to contain OsLRP, a gene tolerant to rice stripe tenuivirus (“RSV”). Generations of on-site greenhouse tests show that the expression of OsLRP in the variety has been stable. The RDA said that it would carry out the environmental hazard assessment of the RSV-resistant rice and apply for the variety registration following the mass breeding of the rice variety.
* Rice strip tenuivirus, transmitted by small brown grasshoppers (Laodelphax striatellus), is called the ‘rice AIDS.’ This chemical-resistant pest, once it attacks the rice field, substantially reduces the yield and decreases the crop quality. Last year alone, approximately 2,828 hectares of rice paddy was hit by the pest. Earlier last June, the damage caused to rice paddies in Seocheon and Seosan of the Chungnam province was found to be almost 40 times as severe as previous years.
August 17, 2009
Scientists backed by Korea’s Rural Development Administration have produced pig clones that have been genetically modified to express FasL(fas ligand), a human immune gene.
Professor Jin Dong-il from Chung Nam University and Korean bio-tech firm Mgen said that organs from their FasL-expressing cloned piglet, born on May 11, have fewer risks of rejection when transplanted into humans.
An organ from the piglet produced by Jin’s team, when transplanted into the human body, is known to be recognized as self, significantly reducing cellular toxicity. This achievement follows Xeno, a piglet born last April that has been genetically modified to lack the rejection-triggering gene.
August 11, 2009
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