History of the Biosafety Symposia and the ISBR

In an attempt to measure, debate and perhaps manage the range and degree of risk posed to
the environment, our forebears in the EU, US and elsewhere convened a Symposium in 1990
in Kiawah Island, North Carolina.
The first conference, entitled "Biological Monitoring of Genetically Engineered Plants and Microbes" reflected the state of technology at the time. The second Symposium, entitled "The biosafety results
of field tests of genetically modified plants and microorganisms" was held in Goslar, Germany in
1992.
Subsequent biennial Symposia, all of which also published proceedings, were held in Monterey,
USA (1994), Tsukuba, Japan (1996), Braunschweig, Germany (1998), Saskatoon, Canada (2000),
Beijing, China (2002) and most recently in Montpellier, France (2004).
Proceedings from all Symposia have been published in hard copy, and the proceedings from the
latest four symposia, are available online here.

It is only due to the consistent support, financial and otherwise, of the EC
and the USDA, that these Symposia were able to succeed as well as they did. Additional support
came from other government agencies in respective host countries, and corporate sponsors
also provided substantial contributions. However, our members are international in scope,
predominantly public university and government scientists and regulators.
Some are promoters of GM technologies; others are more cautious, even skeptical. However,
we share a demand for solid scientific data with which to conduct our deliberations.

The Saskatoon meeting presented a watershed, as the delegates recognized that
the questions and concerns of biosafety with genetically engineered organisms,
including animals by this time, had not been satisfactorily and comprehensively
addressed, and new generations of genetically engineered traits would likely
continue to raise important questions of risk to environment as well as to human
health. It was time to establish a permanent group from the delegates of the
earlier ad hoc organization. Shortly after the 6th symposium, the International
Society for Biosafety Research was legally incorporated, with an executive group
drawn from the international advisory committees for the earlier Symposia.
Dr Alan McHughen (University of Saskatchewan) was elected President,
and Dr Zhangliang Chen (Peking University) was elected Chair of the subsequent
Symposium. At the Beijing Symposium, Dr McHughen, now at the University of California,
Riverside, was returned as President, and Dr Mark Tepfer, INRA, France, was elected
Vice President and also Chair of the 8th Symposium.
At the Montpellier Symposium, Dr Joachim Schiemann (Federal Biological Research
Centre for Agriculture and Forestry, Germany) was elected President.