ABSTRACT
The biosafety protocol was intended to minimize risks from living modified organisms to biodiversity and thus provide the first concrete international agreement to implement aspects of the Convention on Biological Diversity. Thus the biosafety agreement is a truly precautionary instrument, setting rules for decision-making that seek to minimize the risk of future, potential, damage. The trade dimensions of the biosafety agreement came to the fore not least because of the increasing politicization of agricultural biotechnology during the late 1990s. The chapter provides as background a brief overview of the negotiating process that led to the adoption of the Cartagena Protocol and discusses analyse country positions and specific aspects of the biosafety talks. Efforts to create international biosafety rules began in the 1980s, when modern biotechnology was in its infancy but showing signs of progressing towards the commercialization of genetically modified organisms and products. Biosafety Working Group-2 also saw the creation of new organizational structures for the biosafety talks.
