The OECD Blue Book, "Recombinant DNA: Safety Considerations" was published
in 1986. The developed principles and concepts on the stepwise and
case-by-case approach for risk assessment in the Blue Book have been used as
a foundation for building national biosafety frameworks and international
instruments for the regulation of the products of modern biotechnology.
Twenty years after the Blue Book was published, OECD continues its
activities on unique identifier systems, information-sharing, consensus
documents for the biology of crops, trees and microorganisms with respect to
harmonization of regulatory oversight and those of novel food and feed
safety. These activities benefit, without any doubt, the international
community at large, including OECD non-member countries. In order to
strengthen its position in the international arena and to better respond to
the needs of the changing world, OECD would be encouraged to participate in
a more active manner in the technology transfer process and co-existence
debate, together with continuing the organization's efforts on
information-sharing and harmonization in the field of biotechnology and
biosafety.