In order to work with new technologies, we need
to become familiar with its legal framework. It comprises laws and regulations that
have to be considered when planning our activities as scientists. Projects
regarding synthetic biology may represent a risk to the environment and to
human health if those are overseen. That is the reason for international, regional
and national legislation to exist. Our iGEM UNAH 2015 Team is well aware of law
and presents its research according to Honduran and international regulations
and norms.
For a better understanding of how the legislation of GMOs works in Honduras, SERNA (2014) provides a brief timeline of important facts about history of regulation in the subject.
- 1997, Standard Fruit Company, made the first petition related to transgenic regulations. The National Association of seed Producers supports the petition. At the time, there were no biosafety norms.
- At the end of that year, SAG (Secretaria de Agricultura y Ganaderia), created the National Committee on Biotechnology and Biosafety, and presents the first draft for national regulations
- 1998, by a President´s Decree a set of rules on GMOs and Transgenic Plants are published, derived from the Phytozoosanitary Law, is passed.
- The National Committee on Biosafety and Biotechnology Committee, decrees its internal rules and starts to study cases and applications, in order to follow up to the commitments derived from the Biological Diversity Convention.
- 2003, the first authorization for liberation of a GMO corn plant is signed.
- 2006, the Hemispheric Program of Biotechnology and Biosafety is continued. This program recognizes regional cooperation initiatives in biotechnology and agricultural biosafety.
- In 2008, Honduras ratifies the Cartagena Protocol, it was signed in 2005.
The regulation of the use of GMOs, is currently regulated by Rules on Biosafety with focus on transgenic plants, and the Cartagena Protocol. It is worth to note that, Honduras is the only country in the Central American region having a regulatory framework for the commercialization of genetically modified crops. The Norms of Biosafety establish the general principles that need to be taken into account including concepts, regulations and sanctions regarding the manipulation of GMOs.
According to the Laws of Biosafety, a committee of risk assessment is perfectly viable. The committee evaluates risks taken by the use of transgenic crops and its effects on public health, food production and the environment, also supervises all field tests for transgenic organisms. The procedures and guidelines of evaluation are written in the regulations. One of the most important articles is the one that points SENASA (National Service on Plant and Animal Health) as the organism responsible for the authorization of releases of transgenic organisms into the environment.
The Rules on Biosafety with focus on Transgenic Plants is about to be changed according to SERNA (Ministry of Environment). The new law will have the name of "Biotechnology Safety Law". The improvement of the law is due to a regional project called Building Capacity for Effective Participation in the Biosafety Clearing House (BCH Project) which is sponsored by the United Nation Environment Program (UNEP) and the Global Environment Facility (GEF) (Aguilar, 2010).
The law clearly states that for academic matters and scientific research, no special permits are needed to work with or manipulate GMOs. Regarding this matter, our project is legal. The team also has the compromise to keep these new bacteria species under laboratory conditions only. This indicates that our project is backed by the national legal framework because it complies with the law, and this can be evidenced by the following document, which officially recognizes the legality of our project: