Toronto — The Canadian Biotechnology Advisory Committee (CBAC) is on a cross-country tour, meeting with public interest groups and experts to get grass-roots feedback about how genetically modified foods should be regulated.

"I think our main concern and hope is to get as broad a view of the issues as possible," Dr. Arnold Naimark, chairman of the CBAC, said in an interview Wednesday.

The tour started in Vancouver earlier this week, stopped in Saskatoon on Wednesday and hits Toronto Thursday. It moves on to Montreal and Halifax next week.

Attendance has been good, although the transit strike in Vancouver prevented some delegates from reaching the meetings, Dr. Naimark said. "I gather the discussions have been very useful and a lot of good points have been put forward."

The CBAC has invited a range of specialists and public groups who would be affected by changes to the regulation of genetic technology, including business, farming and consumer representatives. They have been asked to comment on a preliminary list of biotech issues and recommendations the CBAC has compiled so far.

"The CBAC members are talking to local people that have a stake in the future of genetically modified [GM] foods - people from public interest groups, environmental groups, consumer groups, industry, academics, and so on," CBAC spokesman Carl Martin said. "They are trying to identify the issues that policy should touch on, the whole process is about helping the government develop policy on GM foods."

The CBAC was established in September 1999 to raise public awareness and provide the Canadian government with independent expert advice on biotechnology issues. It is made up of 21 volunteers chosen from scores of people nominated by Canada's scientific, business, general public, ethics and environmental communities.

"The volunteers come from across Canada and include people such as scientists, nutritionists and economists," Mr. Martin said. "They have varied backgrounds, but they have intimate knowledge of biotech issues."

The group is funded by the government, but operates at arm's length, advising on policy direction but not getting involved in specific regulatory decisions. Its wide-ranging mandate includes gathering information and providing advice to the government about the ethical, social, regulatory, economic, scientific, environmental and health aspects of biotechnology.

The results of the current sessions on the legislation of genetically modified foods is being posted on the CBAC's Web site (the Vancouver summary is already available), and the public is invited to submit comments until the end of April. An initial report on the latest feedback will be published in June and the public will then have six months to submit comments on it, as well.

"People can look at what we've concluded and identify any gaps, and offer additional comments or options that perhaps we haven't fully considered," Dr. Naimark said.

After all the public feedback has been gathered, the group will publish a final report for the government.

"It will provide general guidance to the government on the legislation of GM foods," Dr. Naimark said. "There is no specific legislation pending at the moment, but Canada is part of the G8 and it will be holding some discussions of GM foods later this year, so the report will be available for that."

The CBAC consultation sessions are being held by invitation only, but members of the public can leave comments or enquire about future sessions by calling (866)748-2222 or visiting the group's Web site at www.cbac-cccb.ca. The CBAC's research and consultation documents, as well as its reports to government ministers, are also available at the site.

Besides the legislation of genetically modified foods, the CBAC is also looking at four other major issues: The protection and exploitation of biotechnological intellectual property; incorporating social and ethical considerations into biotechnology; the use of novel genetically based inventions; and genetic privacy.

The group will be on tour across the country again in late April to meet with public groups on the issue of biotech-related intellectual property issues.

"We're not a committee established to provide a report and go out of business," Dr. Naimark said. "We're an ongoing body open for input and open consultation before and after our reports are submitted and on an ongoing basis. These issues have a long-term perspective to them, and the field is developing so rapidly that there will be all types of new technologies and products appearing in the coming years, raising new issues that we probably haven't even thought about yet."