Previous Online Discussions of the AHTEG

Dear AHTEG members,

Greetings from Montreal!

I am pleased to inform that the scientific editing of the "Guidance on Risk Assessment of Living Modified Organisms", done by an external consultant under the supervision of Helmut and in consultation with the AHTEG Bureau and Secretariat, is now complete.

As it was agreed by the Group in Montreal, the edited Guidance is now being circulated for a period of 72 hours during which you may review the changes suggested by the scientific editor and, if necessary, provide comments. If any objection is raised to a change suggested by the editor, the text will be reverted back to what it was at the end of the meeting in Montreal.

PLEASE NOTE THAT COMMENTS, IF ANY, SHOULD BE LIMITED TO THE CHANGES PROPOSED BY THE EDITOR.

To download the edited Guidance, please click on the link “See this post in the online forum” at the bottom of this message when reading it thorough email or go to http://bch.cbd.int/onlineconferences/portal_ahteg_ra.shtml. Please note that you will need to sign in to the BCH to access this page.

This discussion will close on 6 July 2012 at 14:30 GMT.

Thank you and best regards,
Manoela

Hello Manoela

I prefer original text for the following:

Trees
Tree species and genotypes are highly diverse and exhibit a wide range of distributions and complex associations with other organisms, as well as significant ecological, economic, environmental, climatic and socio-economic values.

Monitoring
Monitoring for potential effects of an LMO involves the observation of changes to indicators (e.g., species, populations, soil, environmental processes, etc.) and parameters (i.e., a component to be measured in the observation of an indicator, such as species abundance or soil organic matter).

(a) The potential of the indicators and parameters to signal changes relevant to adverse effects as early as possible and/ or  before the consequences are realized;

Quantitative and qualitative variability of the  parameters to be observed


The specification of the range or magnitude of changes  (so keep range from old text and use magnitude from editor)

restore (e)
Potential for environmental changes, both biotic and abiotic.

Best
Jack

I would say the changed text is more accurate and reflects some of the discussion in Montreal.  I would actually change the first sentence to "SOME tree species and genotypes are highly diverse and exhibit a wide range of distributions..." which is more correct.

The scientific editing has made a significant improvement to the douments but I believe that more editing, particularly for the abiotic stress and stacked trait documents is still required to acheive the standards expected for an international guidance document.

Thanks ,
Phil

Dear all,

In the first place, thanks very much to the Secretariat for its efficiency in providing the document and organizing this short revision period.

In general, I agree with the version that is presented here as a reflection of the state-of-the-art of our discussions.

There is one part where I have some comments:

In the guidance on Trees, in the section "The likely potential receiving environment", there is a proposal for the first sentence:

"Determining what will be the "likely potential receiving environment" for the LM tree under consideration will depend on the LM tree itself, its habitats, the traits and modified characteristics and its mechanisms for dispersal."

The version by the scientific editor reads: "The identification and characterisation of indicators and parameters in the likely potential receiving environment(s) that may provide relevant information to the risk assessment will depend on the LM tree in question, its habitats, the traits and modified characteristics and its mechanisms for dispersal."

I agree that the edited version differs in content from our original version, which reads: "The identification and characterisation of likely potential receiving environment(s) may be dependent on the LM tree in question, its habitats, the traits and modified characteristics and its mechanisms for dispersal." The new proposal however also differs from the original.

According to our agreed rules, in such a case we should go back to our original text. That would be  my preference.

Best regards,

Hans

Dear Manoela,

On the whole I think the scientific editing has nicely improved the doc. There are a few points where I am not sure though that it cought what was meant in the old version, so I would prefer the old to be retained.

I attach the doc with track changes. In case its trickky to see my changes agaist the others, I also indicated them with **.

Kind regards,
and hope you have better summer weather in Montreal than the constant downpour we are learning to live with here in UK.

Ricarda

Dear Manoela and colleagues:
Thank you for to the Secretariat for the editing and for sending us the documents.
My comments are on the Monitoring Document.
In the sentence that goes as “General monitoring starts with general observations of changes in indicators and assessment endpoints which are often defined within national…”, I think that changing parameters for assessment endpoints improved the document and give consistency with the other documents, however the reference to parameters is important in the rest of the monitoring document and the word “parameters”, appears several times, without having the initial reference. I know that we cannot discuss the document by now but this can be solved if assessment endpoints is added as proposed by the editor but the word "parameters" is not eliminated. If this is not possible then I would prefer to go back to the initial sentence.
Thank you.

Dear all,

Many thanks for your feedback and comments.

The discussion is now closed in accordance with what was agreed during the meeting in Montreal with regard to the 72-hour period for feeback on the changes suggested by the editor.

Helmut will take it from here and will prepare a final version of the Guidance for consideration by the Parties at the upcoming COP-MOP.

Finally, I would like to express my gratitude to all of you for your tireless efforts during the development of this document.

Thank you very much and all the best!
Manoela