‘Our achievement in biosafety significant’

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USEFUL FOR RESEARCHERS: Dawos (centre) and BioSafety Department director-general Letchumanan Ramantha (right) launch the Malaysian Biosafety Handbook. — Bernama photo

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia has played an active role and achieved significant progress in the area of biosafety through a comprehensive legal framework that is already in place, Deputy Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk Dr James Dawos Mamit said yesterday.

To mark the achievement, he launched the Malaysian Biosafety Handbook during the opening of a three-day workshop on Biotechnology Commercialisation and Trade in Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) Economies – Biosafety Regulatory Perspective, here.

Speaking at the launch, Dawos said he hoped that the book would be useful for researchers involved in research on Living Modified Organisms (LMO).

“The book covers six topics, which are User’s Guide to the Biosafety Act and Regulations; Guidelines for Institutional Biosafety Committees; Contained Use Activity of LMO.

“Confined Field Trial of Living Modified Plants in Malaysia; Risk Assessment of Genetically Modified Microorganisms and Environmental Risk Assessment of Genetically Modified Plants in Malaysia,” he added.

Dawos said Malaysia’s own experts must be given continuous training as well as exposure to interdisciplinary requirements if the country wanted a proper biosafety to be in place.

“Thus, I encourage researchers involved in modern biotechnology to also factor in biosafety components in your request for funding. This is important because, ultimately if you want to commercialise an LMO, this biosafety data including risk assessment would be very vital,” he added.

Dawos said that above all information exchange was a key area to bring all stakeholders to the level playing field as well as to empower them to take these technologies to greater heights.

“This workshop, along with the topics selected for in-depth deliberations, will also serve to address the concerns of many stakeholders, be it the government, non-governmental organisations, academia, regulators and the industry through deliberations and discussions on the latest scientific findings and experiences in the Apec economies,” he added.

The workshop, attended by more than 70 experts from China, Russia, Singapore, Australia and Thailand, served as a platform for international biosafety experts and regulators from Apec economies to share knowledge and experiences with regard to regulatory challenges in the commercialisation of modern biotechnology.

Malaysia formed its Biosafety Department in 2010 to be an excellent agency in biosafety regulatory aspects towards promoting safe use of modern biotechnology application.

The department’s mission is to implement the Biosafety Act 2007 by regulating the release, importation, exportation and contained used of any LMO and products of such organisms with the objective of protecting human, plant and animal health, the environment and biological diversity. — Bernama