Codex Secretary Comments on Biotech Task Force

UNCLAS ROME 002915

SIPDIS


FAS FOR OSEC/BSLUTSKY, FAS FOR DWILLIAMS
STATE FOR EB/JBOBO

FROM U.S. MISSION TO THE U.N. AGENCIES IN ROME

REF: STATE 147159

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: AORC EAGR ETRD FAO WHO
SUBJECT: Codex Secretary Comments on Biotech Task Force


1. In an August 30 meeting, Codex Commission Secretary,
Kazuaki Miyagishima, discussed prospects for the
upcoming meeting of the Codex Ad Hoc Task Force on
Biotechnology with Ag MinCoun. Miyagishima expects the
discussion over the Task Force's workplan to be
difficult and therefore plans to attend the September 19-
23 meeting himself.


2. Miyagishima hopes the Task Force will be able to
agree on 2 to 3 issues for future work. He acknowledged
that a number of countries support work on "adventitious
presence," but have very different ideas about what the
term means. In his view, further work on foods derived
from plants could be very helpful for developing
countries. He expects some countries to resist
launching work on transgenic animals because of the lack
of experience in this area. However, he suggested work
on transgenic fish might be a good alternative as it
would involve similar issues and there is already
commercial experience with fish.

Cleverley


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2005ROME02915 - Classification: UNCLASSIFIED