General Discussion and Closing Plenary

In the Closing Plenary session, discussions were based on summaries presented by the chairs of the parallel sessions.

Photo: Calestous Juma, Science, Technology and Innovation Program, Harvard University, and Conference Chair, with the Moderators of the Parallel Panel Discussions: William Leiss, Royal Society, Canada, Jayashree Watal, CID, Amir Attaran, CID, and Professor Amanda Galvez, Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana, Mexico

Wrapping up, Dr. Calestous Juma, Science, Technology and Innovation Program, CID, email, said the discussions at the conference far exceeded his expectations. He said he was interested in finding a way that research activities could help further discussions in a constructive manner.

In his closing remarks, Dr. Juma, provided some closing remarks and reflections on the meeting and its outcomes. He suggested that there needs to be a co-evolution between technological and institutional change, in order to resolve safety questions. He noted that all are interested in precaution as a guiding principle, but that there are differences in defining it. He stated that if this was solely a domestic discussion it would be easy to resolve, but that domestic actions taken in one country are bound to have implications for others. He anticipated that the Cartagena Protocol's entry into force would generate guidelines on how to apply the precautionary principle. He said that if we do not have common and normative standards, it will be difficult to make sense of the principle and its operationalization. He suggested that such standards will most likely be initially developed at the national level. He noted that despite numerous ecological and human health studies, the international community is still not able to agree on establishing and carrying out domestic assessments of biotechnology. He stressed the need to generate interest in evolutionary biology, noting that ignorance of ecosystem functions increases uncertainty. He emphasized the important role of the public sector. Juma stated that he would produce a summary reflecting his views of the conference, and invited all participants to contribute papers for inclusion in a special journal issue. He anticipated organizing further conferences on IPR, ethics and institutional innovations associated with molecular biology. (calestous_juma@harvard.edu)

Amanda Galvez (above right) summarized the panel discussion on Policy and Institutional Implications, summarized the session policy and institutional implications, noting Ed Soule's discussion of strong and weak formulations of the precautionary principle and their implications for assessing the risks of GM and non-GM agricultural practices. She noted that Philip Bereano traced the US history of preventive measures taken from the 1970s to date, and stressed the public's role in asking questions about new technologies. Regarding Gary Comstock's presentation, she highlighted his call for scientists to convey their views to the public and to focus on biotechnology's benefits as well as the problems of traditional agriculture.