As the debate on the merits and demerits of the government’s decision to lift the moratorium on genetically engineered food and feed products, it’s important to have a historical perspective on what has influenced global regulatory positions on the technology.
The Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety to the Convention on Biological Diversity was adopted in 2000 to provide an international regulatory framework for products of modern biotechnology. At that time genetic engineering (GE) was still a new technology and the protocol understandably took a precautionary approach to its regulation.
