News

  • Friday, January 20, 2012
    The University of Cambridge’s Research News reported on research into a family of genes that could help us breed grasses with improved...
  • Wednesday, January 11, 2012
    As climate change negotiators from nearly 200 countries meet this week in South Africa, Carter Roberts, the World Wildlife Fund’s president...
  • Wednesday, January 11, 2012
    Researchers from the climate change, agriculture and food security research programme of the Consultative Group on Agricultural Research...

Aims of the International Society for Biosafety Research

The International Society for Biosafety Research, ISBR, aims to promote scientifically sound
research that supports biosafety assessment  by improving communication among scientists who study plants, animals, and microbes with new characteristics due to altered DNA and produced using modern biotechnology.

Our members are international in scope and include researchers from academia, government bodies and technology developers, as well as risk assessors and regulators. Some are promoters of GM technologies; others are more neutral on this topic or even sceptical. However, we share a demand for solid scientific data with which to conduct our deliberations.

ISBR activities are intended to be as broadly interdisciplinary as possible, covering the entire spectrum of pertinent research, from strictly molecular laboratory studies to field studies to socioeconomic aspects of field deployment of GMOs.

By fostering communication and technical exchange among experts, ISBR supports the development of the science used in biosafety assessment processes and promotes constructive dialogue on important science-based biosafety issues associated with GMOs.

Specific activities designed to achieve these aims are:

  • Organising an international symposium focused on the biosafety of GMOs. Starting 1990,  the "International Symposium on Biosafety of Genetically Modified Organisms" (ISBGMO) was the first initiative to alleviate the communication problem within the GMO biosafety research community.
  • Sponsoring scientific publications, including original work, that describe advances in the field of biosafety research. ISBR publishes, through publishing partners EDP sciences, a peer-reviewed journal (Environmental Biosafety Research, EBR).
  • Supporting a multidisciplinary approach to ensuring the safety of GMO products through scientifically sound risk assessment that supports regulatory decision-making. ISBR aims to contribute to the specification of relevant issues such as the documentation of baselines and formulating scientific questions relevant to regulatory decision-making.



Invitation to join

ISBR bylaws