Risk assessment and risk management of transgenic trees

Dear Forum Participant,

Welcome to the Discussion Group on “Risk assessment and risk management of transgenic trees”.

**The discussions within this group will take place during 10-23 November 2008.**

To assist in the discussions, a non-exhaustive list of suggested reading materials, as well as an introduction to the topic, have been made available.

A short tutorial to assist the participants in posting messages and navigating through the Forum has been made available at http://bch.cbd.int/forum/tutorial_discgroup.pdf.

As a participant to the Open-ended Online Expert Forum on Risk Assessment and Risk Management, your contribution is of extreme importance in making this Forum an unprecedented medium of discussion which is a forerunner to the intergovernmental negotiations on the development of guidance material on specific aspects of risk assessment of LMOs.

The CBD Secretariat thanks you for your active participation. Happy discussions!

Best regards,
The Biosafety Division

Dear all:
Finally, I could log in the thread.
My name is Kazuo Watanabe, working on LMO risk assessment, management and communication, at  Gene Research Center, University of Tsukuba, Japan.
I am involved in RA on GM trees such as Eucalypts and poplar, and also have some informal consultation with tropical countries with their upcoming GM tree materials such as teak.

Both at CBD and Cartagena Protocol, forest biotechnology at large,  become a subject for a discussion, but it shall be some preposition and common understanding background of what is forest biotech and how they could be used briefly before the RA on GM trees is discussed.

There are diverse opinions on GM trees in terms of association with biodiversity issues, but there shall be first of all, how the GM trees are intended to be used besides the elements and modality of measurements of risk assessments to be  specifically discussed.  Industry is considering the GM trees for commercial fields where usually are controlled for production such as plantation and this should not be mixed up by natural vegetation.

Prof. Dr. Kazuo Watanabe