Biosafety Protocol: Is There A Need For One?

Term Paper Title	Biosafety Protocol: Is There A Need For One?
# of Words	1671
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	6.68

Biosafety Protocol: Is There A Need For One?

By John M. Seguin

Outline

Thesis statement:  An international biosafety protocol should be created to
establish and maintain control over the products designed with biotechnology.

        I.  The existing laws and regulations that govern the release of
transgenic
                organisms are inadequate or nonexistent.
            A.  The developed nations of the world are using regulations
                that were designed to control and monitor crops created with
                traditional technologies.
            B.  Biotechnology is regulated by three different agencies.
            C.  The undeveloped nations have virtually no regulations
                governing transgenic organisms.
                1.  This indicates that biotechnological research can and is
                        being conducted in these countries without regulation.
                2.  There are many biotech companies based in developed
                        countries that have branches or joint ventures around
                        the world.
        II.  The potential risks of transgenic organisms to the environment
                is still being determined.
            A.  Some experts warn that there is a danger that biotechnology
                can create mutant hybrids.
            B.  Biotechnology has the potential to harm the economies of some
                developing nations.
            C.  The last and possible the most important argument for an
                international biosafety protocol is in the name of ignorance
                and caution
        III.  The United States, Germany, Japan, and Australia are the only
                countries opposed to the biosafety protocol.
        IV.  The need for a change in the world of agriculture is undeniable.

        As the world moves closer to the 21st century, research and development
in the area of biotechnology has increased dramatically.  According to Bette
Hileman of Chemical and Engineering News, the world population will increase by
3 billion people in the next thirty years while the amount of land available for
agriculture cannot be greatly expanded.  "Biotechnology - specifically that
aspect involved in transferring genes from one species into the [DNA] of another
- has the potential to alleviate . . ." (8) this and many other problems facing
the world in the near future.  Even though biotechnology has already shown
dramatic results in the creation of beneficial transgenic (genetically
engineered) species, many countries and researchers are ". . . quite leery about
the uses of biotechnology" (8).  Therefore, an international biosafety protocol
should be created to establish and maintain control over the products designed
with biotechnology.
        The existing laws and regulations that govern the release of transgenic
organisms are inadequate or nonexistent.  In general, the developed nations of
the world are using regulations that were designed to control and monitor crops
created with traditional technologies like hybridization and cross-breeding
(Hileman 8).  Pamela Weintraub, of the National Audubon Society, states that
many expected problems with biotechnology can be kept under control with proper
regulations, but the regulations (where there are any) governing biotechnology
today are "tangled and obscure" (164).
        In the United States for example, biotechnology is regulated by three
different agencies: the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Food
and Drug Administration (FDA), and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
These three agencies regulate product research and commercialization of
transgenic organisms depending upon their nature and intended use.  The USDA
regulates transgenic plants grown on a large scale.  If a product of transgenic
origin is to be used as a food, then it falls under FDA regulations.  The EPA
has jurisdiction over all transgenic organisms that express or function as a
pesticide, and a...

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