Description

The Convention on Biological Diversity defines biotechnology as “any technological application that uses biological systems, living organisms, or derivatives thereof, to make or modify products or processes for specific use”. ¹ This broad definition encompasses the biological processes that people have harnessed for thousands of years to create new processes and products, as well as the modern, typically laboratory-based techniques that are used to today.

For Parties to the Cartagena Protocol, the following definition also applies with respect to the scope of the Protocol and its implementation:

 
“The application of a) In vitro nucleic acid techniques, including recombinant deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and direct injection of nucleic acid into cells or organelles, or b) fusion of cells beyond the taxonomic family, that overcome natural physiological reproductive or recombination barriers and that are not techniques used in traditional breeding and selection”. ²

Convention on Biological Diversity (1992) ¹

The Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (2000) ²