Customs Officers, Veterinary Officers, Extension officers and Saint Lucia's Invasive Species Coordinator participated in training to understand how the BCH can be used to obtain information on LMOs and how they can register information on the BCH from the 19th to 20th June 2012. The training session was held in the training room of the General Business and Technical Services (GBTS) building The workshop was facilitated by Mr. Fred Philips, a UNEP Regional Advisor. Mr. Terrence Gilliard, a horticulturist and a member of the National Biosafety Coordinating Committee delivered information on biotechnology, biosafety and the national situation. Ms. Anita James, the Biosafety Coordinator presented a report to the trainees on the Biosafety Clearing House Project Phase One. The participants seemed very pleased with the method of instruction of the workshop, the way that the facilitator handled the training sessions, the amount of information that they obtained from the workshop and its pace. Participants shared brilliant ideas on how they can keep the momentum going in country on spreading information about GMOs through the BCH. This was the second in the series of workshops for Saint Lucia.
From the 21st to 22nd June 2012, a happy eclectic mixture of individuals from various organisations including a radio program -Your Health/Your Choice on the radio station Prayz FM, the Saint Lucia Marketing Board, the Ministry of External Affairs, representatives from two pharmacies that of M&C and Peoples Discount Drugs, a lecturer from the Division of Agriculture of Sir Arthur Lewis Community College and two of his students, the Central Statistics Department, the perishables purchaser from a major supermarket chain-Consolidated Foods Limited, the National Consumer Association and the Library Services of Saint Lucia convened at the GBTS training room on Thursday the 21st June from about 9 am. The workshop continued on the 22nd June 2012. Mr. Fred Phillips in his quiet but expert way facilitated the various sessions of the training showing the participants how to use the BCH. Ms. Anita James delivered both presentations on the BCH Phase One project and biotechnology, biosafety and the national situation since Mr. Gilliard was unavailable. These participants were very stimulated by the information that was being shared with them and as a result, there were always lively discussions on various matters related to GMOs and the BCH.`The participants shared a variety of activities that they would follow up with, to spread the knowledge that they had gained at the workshop. They promised to form an e-mail group to continue the discussions and to share the knowledge learned. One of the participants undertook that responsibility and was promised the support of the others. This was the third workshop in the series for Saint Lucia.
