marker-assisted selection in wheat - ictsd

Chapter 22 – Marker-assisted selection: policy considerations and options for developing countries 453become more prevalent, so the demandsfor both germplasm exchange and sharingthe benefits of the final products that aregenerated from R&D will increase. In fact,over the last 30 years, and due to a combinationof the new possibilities openedup by molecular biology and some wellpublicized cases of “biopiracy”, governmentshave increasingly come to appreciatethe actual and potential value of geneticresources. This has resulted in an expansionof legally-binding global and regionalinstruments, and national laws, regulationsand policy concerning issues of access,ownership and control of genetic resourcesand the sharing of benefits arising fromtheir use or enhancement.For the further pursuit and future successof MAS, policy- and decision-makers as wellas individual scientists need to be aware ofthe requirements for international exchangesof genetic resources such as those describedin the CBD (1992), the International Treatyon Plant Genetic Resources for Food andAgriculture (ITPGRFA) (see Stannard et al.,2004 and Bragdon, 2004) and its standardMaterial Transfer Agreement (MTA), andthe World Trade Organization (WTO)Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects ofIntellectual Property Rights (TRIPs), particularlyArticle 27.3 (b), which states thatwhile members may exclude plants andanimals from patentability, if they chooseto do so in the case of plants, they mustprovide an effective “sui generis” systemof protection such as the 1978 and 1991 versionsof the International Convention forthe Protection of New Varieties of Plantsadministered by the International Unionfor Protection of Plant Varieties (UPOV),or a combination of the two (IPGRI, 1999;Le Buanec, 2004; Donnenworth, Grace, andSmith, 2004; FAO, 2005a; Tripp, Eaton andLouwaars, 2006).They should also be aware that internationalexchange of germplasm carrieswith it the risk of introducing diseasesand pathogens through plants and animalsand their parts such as seeds andpropagules, semen and embryos, andthat sanitary and phytosanitary certificatesare required to facilitate the safeexchange of genetic resources between, andunder some circumstances, within countries.Familiarity is therefore needed withthe WTO Agreement on the Applicationof Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures(SPS), the WTO Agreement on TechnicalBarriers to Trade (TBT) and the instrumentsrelevant to standard setting withinthese, including: the International PlantProtection Convention with its objectiveof preventing the introduction and spreadof plant and plant product pests, and theAnimal Health Code implemented by theWorld Organisation for Animal Health(OIE) that covers both livestock and fish.This international policy and regulatoryframework is both complex andcontinuously evolving. Hence, apart fromthe scientific and technical challengesinvolved in MAS, developing countriesface formidable difficulties in crafting andimplementing legal and regulatory frameworksthat facilitate exchange of GRFAas well as the range of tools used in MASfor both research and commercial uses. Italso challenges national policy-makers tokeep abreast of the international policymakingprocesses and all that these implyin terms of both coordination betweenministries of agriculture, trade, environment,and S&T, and in human and financialresources. However, the consequences ofnot being knowledgeable about these matters,and in particular about the appropriatenational laws of countries from whichgenetic resources and scientific techniques