Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety Outreach/Position Document on Public Awareness and Education

Awareness and education are important prerequisites to all forms of evaluation or consultation by the public. While national governments have a primary responsibility to ensure that the public is appropriately informed about biosafety and biotechnology matters, developers of new technologies also have a special role to play in providing biosafety information to the public about their products. We do so through a wide range of global, regional and national activities.

Background: Article 23 of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (Protocol) requires Parties to promote and facilitate public awareness and education about biosafety and biotechnology (Appendix 1). During their fifth meeting in 2010, the Parties to the Protocol adopted a program of work on Article 23 which outlines ways to ‘promote broad public awareness and education of issues concerning the safe transfer, handling and use of living modified organisms (LMOs)1 and invites all to share their experiences in this area.1 The Global Industry Coalition (GIC)2 has surveyed its members to develop the perspectives, best practices and case studies contained in this document (Appendix 2).

GIC Perspectives on Public Awareness and Education

  • Whenever new technologies are introduced, people want to know more. How will this technology affect my life? Is it safe? What impact will it have on the environment? How does it work?
  • Awareness and education are important prerequisites to all forms of consultation or evaluation by the public. Parties to the Protocol/national governments have a primary responsibility to ensure that the public is appropriately informed about biosafety and biotechnology matters in which they are asked to participate in by their national governments, in accordance with the country’s laws and practices.
  • Providing information to the public about biosafety and biotechnology can be challenging, because they are complex subjects involving many actors. Article 23 and the Protocol’s Program of Work on Public Awareness, Education and Participation Concerning the Safe Transfer, Handling and Use of LMOs (2011-2015) recognizes this, and calls on the Parties to cooperate with civil society, industry, academia, communication experts, educational institutions and others on activities in these areas.
  • Developers of new technologies have a special role to play in providing biosafety information to the public about their products. From the time that agricultural biotechnology crops were first grown commercially in 1996, members of the agricultural biotechnology industry have reached out to the public through diverse and innovative programs to raise awareness, educate and encourage participation.
  • Representing the developers of new technologies, the members of the GIC believe that:
    • Public acceptance of governmental decisions on LMOs is fostered when people have access to information about biotechnology that is transparent, understandable, timely and relevant to their concerns.
    • Public education and awareness activities are best when country-driven rather than imposed through regional or global organizations. Programs should be designed with specific social and cultural considerations in mind, and targeted to the knowledge and concerns of different stakeholder groups in a particular country.
    • Public sector expert engagement also is important to deliver information to the public about the impacts of new technologies. Technology developers routinely develop public-private partnerships to investigate the benefits and risks of new products and facilitate the dissemination of this important information to the professional and regulatory community through publications, presentations at conferences, meetings with the public and indirectly through the media.
    • Awareness and education initiatives should be focused on increasing knowledge of the scientific aspects of biotechnology, including impacts on farming systems, food production and environmental benefits, and experiences in other world areas. This focus will support informed public participation in science-based biotechnology decisions, especially if focused on technical questions and risk assessments.
    • Building awareness and education in biotechnology is a long-term and evolving process that should follow each country’s experience. Activities and programs should continue, but evolve as a country moves from establishing biosafety policies through evaluating biotechnology products to approval and adoption.

Industry Best Practices and Case Studies for Effective Public Awareness and Education

Members of the GIC have worked in many of the objective and activity areas that are identified in Element 2 of the Program of Work on Public Awareness, Education and Participation.3  The following best practices and examples come from those experiences.

1. Open invitations: Public awareness and education opportunities should be transparent.

Behind-the-scenes information about how biotechnology research is conducted, developed, evaluated and monitored is of great interest to the public. The agricultural biotechnology industry literally opens its doors to the public through visitors’ centers. Community members have opportunities to participate in company decision-making in some places. Scientists from all kinds of institutions have access to published industry research and standards and good stewardship requirements for managing internal research and development activities.

2. The power of first-hand experiences: Information given to the public should be direct and understandable.

Biosafety and agricultural biotechnology are highly technical topics. For members of the public who do not have science degrees or farm experience, interacting with researchers and listening to first-hand experiences with biotechnology provide powerful educational opportunities. In many places, the public can visit laboratories and talk with researchers about how the technology is developed. Elsewhere, members of the public can walk through fields to see what biotech crops look like and get answers to their questions from farmers who actually grow the crops.

3. Awareness and education opportunities must be timely in order to have impact.

The information needed by the public when biosafety regulations are being discussed is different than the information needed at times when specific products are being considered for approval. Some awareness, education and participation programs sponsored by industry provide information every day of the year through the internet and published materials. Other programs may combine many activities into a single week for maximum exposure or operate seasonally when crops are in the ground.

4. Relevance: Specific stakeholders may need “customised” information.

Different people want and need different kinds of information. While some information about biosafety and biotechnology is of interest to the general public, certain stakeholder groups need access to more specialized resources. Industry programs are customized to reach specific audiences – including journalists, teachers and other members of the agriculture and science communities – through events, training courses and dialogue sessions that are tailored for them.

The GIC believes that these experiences in public awareness and education activities for biosafety and biotechnology should be shared and, with the help of its global network, has developed 14 case studies. These case studies describe past and ongoing initiatives, including major accomplishments, success stories, best practices and lessons learned as GIC members have reached out to general public, as well as specific stakeholder groups of journalists, farmers, industry, government and the public sector, and teachers.

The case studies are available online at www.croplife.org/public_participation_case_studies (Appendix 2 for details).

Appendix 1:

Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety Article 23: Public Awareness and Participation

1. The Parties shall:

(a) Promote and facilitate public awareness, education and participation concerning the safe transfer, handling and use of living modified organisms in relation to the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity, taking also into account risks to human health. In doing so, the Parties shall cooperate, as appropriate, with other States and international bodies;

(b) Endeavour to ensure that public awareness and education encompass access to information on living modified organisms identified in accordance with this Protocol that may be imported.

2. The Parties shall, in accordance with their respective laws and regulations, consult the public in the decisionmaking process regarding living modified organisms and shall make the results of such decisions available to the public, while respecting confidential information in accordance with Article 21.

3. Each Party shall endeavor to inform its public about the means of public access to the Biosafety Clearing-House.

Appendix 2:

Summary of GIC Case Studies4

To promote public awareness and education about biosafety and biotechnology topics, the members of the Global Industry Coalition (GIC) often complement or build on programs initiated by national government and others involved in LMOs. Different kinds of programs are used to reach different stakeholder groups.

General public: Virtually all members of the GIC support and engage in activities to educate and inform the general public about biotechnology. This includes producing printed material on relevant topics that may be distributed at public events or regularly sent out by mail or email. In many countries, GIC members sponsor websites that provide information to the general public, and some have specialized sites or pages for certain audiences. Providing updated and accessible information available in local languages is very important.

  • Canada and the Philippines each organize “National Biotechnology Week” events every year. Activities include career fairs, tours of biotech companies, news features, political speeches and outreach, and other programs to simultaneously reach broad and diverse sections of society on a national basis.
  • Visitors’ programs run by biotechnology companies help educate those in their communities and beyond. They offer opportunities for the public to visit facilities where research on agricultural biotechnology is being done, see the technology first-hand and meet the people who are developing it.
  • Ten years ago, the introduction of Bt cotton in India was met with many questions about its biosafety, regulation, and benefits. At the time there was no easy-to-understand overview of the key issues, data, and literature to help resolve them. A prominent scientist wrote Q&A on Bt-Cotton in India to fill this gap, answering dozens of questions on all aspects of Bt technology and the experience with Bt cotton in India.
  • In countries or regions where biotechnology is not widely adopted, opportunities to learn about biotechnology, interact with experts and see crops first-hand can be limited. Multi-stakeholder ‘platform’ events in Romania are dedicated to educating people about agricultural biotechnology: how it’s researched and regulated, the benefits of current products and what’s in the pipeline for the future.

Journalists: Many GIC-supported awareness and education activities include the news media, because they are a primary source of information for the general public. GIC members create opportunities for journalists to talk to experts about specific stories, and host seminars or conferences where they can become better educated on broader topics. The common practice of rotating journalists from one subject area ‘beat’ to another means that this is an ongoing task.

  • The news media plays a special role in building public awareness about many issues because it reaches the public every day with information about events around the world. In Brazil and Japan, Council for Biotechnology Information organizations connect members of the news media with interesting stories and independent sources to help them raise public awareness about agricultural biotechnology.
  • The interest of the Chinese media in agricultural biotechnology follows the wide-ranging and growing interests of the public in this topic. Journalists who seek to access experts, locations where biotechnology crops are developed and grown, and up-to-date information now find new support from the science and agriculture community.

Farmers: The GIC believes that farmers are one of the most important segments of the public to educate about biotechnology because of the choices and responsibilities they have, and benefits that come directly to them. They can play a strong role in educating others about the real impacts that biotechnology has on the economy and the environmental health of their farms.

  • Through the Pan-Asia Farmers Exchange Program, people from across the region learn about the practicalities of regulating and growing biotech crops. What began as a way to share information among farmers is now informing a much broader group of stakeholders on the impacts and benefits of biotechnology in the Philippines, where these crops have been grown for over six years.
  • Every March, rural communities across South Africa gather around local small-scale farms to learn about biotechnology. There are no multi-media presentations or complex internet sites here. Instead, people come simply to see a field of insect-protected maize next to a conventional field, listen to what the farmer has learned from growing the crop, and judge for themselves how effective biotechnology can be in their own environment.

Industry/private sector: The food, feed and fiber industries include vast networks of input providers, growers, machinery manufacturers, processors, millers, traders and retailers. Their acceptance of biotechnology is critically important to the continued adoption of the technology. Members of the GIC follow up carefully to make sure industry colleagues are well-informed about the trade and commercial implications of biosafety and biotechnology issues.

  • In the face of concerns about the market impacts of growing biotech canola in Australia, industry stakeholders engaged in a unique participatory process to systematically review and work through all of the issues being raised. Together they identified practical measures that would ensure the Australian industry could continue to meet the needs of customers and consumers. They then shared this information with other supply chain participants, governments and the public to provide confidence that the industry could manage biotech canola in the supply chain and therefore provide choice to customers across that chain.

Government: The government agencies and authorities that regulate biotechnology are complex organizations in themselves. Regulators, administrators, legislators, the judiciary, and administrative offices at national, regional and local levels may all have to deal with issues related to biotechnology in one way or another. A number of GIC-supported efforts are helping officials in government agencies to stay informed and up-to-date about biosafety and biotechnology issues.

  • As adoption of biotechnology crops grows in a country, so do the economic, agriculture, trade, research, science and legal opportunities and implications. Government officials must keep pace, and in Brazil, an innovative program has been created to enhance understanding of biotechnology at all levels of the government.
  • Biotechnology companies work diligently to provide up-to-date technical information about their new products to regulatory agencies and the scientists who advise them. In Asia, the CropLife Korea industry organization hosts in-depth workshops with international experts on important regulatory topics, while its extensive website houses scientific publications, news and other resources.
  • The manual on “Compliance Management of Confined Field Trials of Biotech-derived Plants” contains best practices and guidelines developed by industry to organize, manage and complete field trials – a critically important stage of biotechnology research and development – in compliance with regulations. Educational workshops based on the manual have been given around the world to share this information with regulators, researchers and members of the biotech industry who are conducting trials, monitoring research or even drafting new regulations. The training has been especially useful in Africa where agricultural biotech research is blossoming, but is applicable anywhere that better understanding of compliance management is needed.
  • Many companies and research institutes have Institutional Biosafety Committees (IBCs) that help them manage complex decisions about research and development activities involving biotechnology, or genetic engineering. The membership of IBCs usually includes people from outside of the organization conducting the research in order to provide independent review and assessment of their plans. In Australia, IBCs play a particularly active and participatory role in biotechnology research and development.

Teachers: Academics and those in the teaching professions have multiple levels of impact. They are often among the most well-educated members of their communities, making them good partners for educating the public about biotechnology, with support from the GIC.

• In 2003-04, when the Ministry of Education in Argentina instituted a requirement that biotechnology be taught in schools, most teachers had not been trained in this new area of science and had few resources for planning lessons. A panel of independent experts came together to design a training course and educational materials, which is offered free-of-charge around the country through the Por Qué Biotecnología (Why Biotechnology) program (http://www.porquebiotecnologia.com.ar/). Today, more than 10,000 school teachers have been trained.

Africa

  • Biotech Awareness from the Ground Up: Outreach to Small-Scale Farmers and Rural Communities in South Africa
  • Sharing Best Practices in Biotech Stewardship: Field Trial Compliance Training in Africa

Americas

  • Teaching Teachers about Biotechnology in Argentina
  • Enhancing Government Understanding of Biotechnology: the Case of Brazil
  • Working with News Media to Build Awareness of Biotechnology: Councils for Biotechnology Information in Brazil and Japan
  • Maple Leaves, Moringa Trees and More: National Biotechnology Weeks in Canada and the Philippines

Asia-Pacific

  • Delivering Market Choice through Industry Participation in Australia
  • Working with News Media to Build Awareness of Biotechnology: Councils for Biotechnology Information in Brazil and Japan
  • Maple Leaves, Moringa Trees and More: National Biotechnology Weeks in Canada and the Philippines
  • The Pan-Asia Farmers (and Scientists and Journalists) Exchange: Regional Education on Fertile Ground
  • Public Participation in Biotechnology Decisions: The Role of Institutional Biosafety Committees (Australia)
  • Meeting Diverse and Dynamic Needs of News Media in China
  • Building Biosafety Knowledge in Korea – In-person Workshops and Online Platforms
  • Answering Questions on Bt Cotton in India

Europe

  • A Shared Platform for Biotechnology Awareness: Multi-stakeholder Events in Romania

Global

  • Using Visitors’ Programs to Educate and Raise Awareness about Biotechnology

The Global Industry Coalition (GIC) for the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety receives input and direction from trade associations representing thousands of companies from all over the world. Participants include associations representing, and companies engaged in, a variety of industrial sectors such as plant science, seeds, agricultural biotechnology, food production, animal agriculture, human and animal health care, and the environment.

Footnotes

1. http://www.cbd.int/doc/decisions/mop-05/mop-05-dec-13-annex-en.pdf

2 The Global Industry Coalition (GIC) for the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety receives input and direction from trade associations representing thousands of companies from all over the world. Participants include associations representing and companies engaged in a variety of industrial sectors such as plant science, seeds, agricultural biotechnology, food production, animal agriculture, human and animal health care, and the environment.

3 http://www.cbd.int/doc/decisions/mop-05/mop-05-dec-13-annex-en.pdf

4 www.croplife.org/public_participation_case_studies