Exchange of animal genetic resources

Summary of the report " Recommendations and regulations for management and exchange of animal genetic resources - Nordic perspective".

By Asko Mäki-Tanila and Morten Walløe Tvedt

Final version of the report can be downloaded, or ordered in print, here.

Recommendations and regulations for management and exchange of animal genetic resources - Nordic perspective

This report is based on the project ‘Legal framework for the rights to and exchange of animal genetic resources in the Nordic region' which was funded by the Nordic Council of Ministers and the Norwegian Genetic Resource Centre and Nordic Gene Bank for Farm Animals (now part of NordGen, Nordic Genetic Resource Center ). The project presents a report concerning the stakeholders' needs for legal framework and possibilities to assess the value of sales and exchange of genetic material of farm animals in the Nordic region. The project also analysed possible needs for framework and regulations related to animal breeding and animal genetic resources in a global context.

The first chapter presents the main challenges and opportunities which the utilisation and conservation of animal genetic resources are facing today. There are major changes influencing the animal production sector: 'livestock revolution' seen as increased global consumption of animal products, intensive and industrialized production systems, major environmental impacts, global warming, increased risks for pandemic diseases (even zoonoses), international trade of high-output breeds, narrow selection goals and loss of variation in breeding programmes, niche production with local breeds and growing interest in patenting.

The importance of genetic diversity is widely acknowledged and the Convention on Biological Diversity forms the base for international regulation and legislation.. The chapter reviews the Convention and other international regulatory agreements . The emphasis is on the processes related to development of regulations covering farm animal diversity.

The second chapter looks at the issues from the Nordic perspective and raises and prioritises the questions from this standpoint. The breeding programmes are typically run by co-operatives and are based on extensive on-farm recording which includes many longevity traits. The Nordic countries have joint breeding schemes for dairy cattle and pigs. The interest in local breeds has generated active national and Nordic operations since the early 1980s. The recognition of the sustainability of breeding programmes and sound international exchange are the most important objectives from the Nordic perspective. The Nordic experts are eager to contribute to the international work on finding guide lines and regulations along these objectives.

FAO coordinates the work on guidelines and agreements on genetic resources of plants and animals related to food and agriculture. Chapter three covers the differences between the plant and animal genetic resources and the implications from these.

Whereas plant genetic resources are held in public gene banks, the genetic resources in animals lie in the variability of dynamically developing breeding stocks. Therefore the viability stemming from sound selection goals, cost-efficient operations and proper management of genetic variation, all important to the proper management of breeding programmes, is crucial for individual breeds and for the joint total diversity over breeds. The main requirements for a sustainable breeding programme are described in the fourth chapter. The next step is to consider how these are implemented in breeding programmes and if there is a need to facilitate simple appraisal and monitoring systems within countries.

Chapter five discusses the international exchange of animal genetic resources . The current very active and beneficial exchange should not be constrained by stiff bureaucratic rules. On the other hand, code of conduct related recommendations would be needed to guarantee for a sustainable gene-flow between widely deviating production environments. There is much variation between countries in how cryo preservation work is organised. In many cases the deposition and maintenance of ex situ banks resort to the expertise and facilities in artificial insemination co-operatives. There is still a need to clarify the management of gene banks. If local breeds are moved from the country, the transfer should be accompanied by a detailed bilateral agreement, following the Bonn Guidelines. Other questions related to ownership and free choice are livestock keepers' rights to land and producers' choice of genetic stock in vertically integrated production.

Chapter six describes the current state of patenting in animal breeding. While plant varieties are uniform, distinct and stable, animal breeds are very variable and under continuous development. Therefore the animal breed concept cannot be a target for patent like systems. Molecular genetics has been able to discover genes which have a major influence on the differences between breeds or animals, and in few cases their use in selection programmes has been subject for patenting. As genomic research is expanding at a fast rate, the number of such findings is growing. The patenting in this context is straightforward and has received popularity. Soon there may also be applications related to special diets meeting the requirements of a known genotype. The knowledge about gene regulation in animals is still inadequate and the successful production of transgenic animals remains unattractive, although progress is steadily made also in this area. There is a new trend also to patent typical animal breeding operations which are step-by-step processes linking data collection, analysis and selection and management decisions together. These process patents are obvious in a business world because inventions, whether products or processes, in all fields of technology are subject to a patent. There are possible exemptions related to natural biological processes for the production of animals, while animal breeding operations involve enough human interaction to make them eligible for patent protection. The applications for process patents are clearly testing the limits for an awardable patent in animal breeding. There is an urgent need for a discussion about how the general principles apply to the area of animal breeding and the needs for implementing special rules in this field. The dismissal of the test-day model patent in Europe shows that it is possible to mitigate unfavourable developments in process patent applications by actively publishing all methods in animal breeding.