CropLife International has re-launched the online database BioTradeStatus, a global resource that provides data on the commercial status and national authorizations of plant biotech traits for cultivation, food and feed use, and importation worldwide. BioTradeStatus (www.biotradestatus.com) is the first comprehensive and searchable online database to provide both the approval and commercial status for CropLife International member companies’ plant biotech traits worldwide so database users can easily determine which products are in the global marketplace. The data on this site can be directly accessed via the Convention on Biological Diversity’s (CBD) Biosafety Clearing-House (BCH). The coordination between BioTradeStatus and the BCH will provide signatories to the Cartagena Biosafety Protocol with significantly improved access to plant biotech trait commercial status information. “BioTradeStatus is the only centralised and accessible online database with this in-depth plant biotech trait regulatory and commercial status information, which is essential for maintaining the smooth, uninterrupted global trade of agricultural commodities,” says Howard Minigh, president and CEO of CropLife International. “Its data enable the entire agricultural value chain — from farmers to grain handlers to regulators — to be fully aware of both the approval and commercial status of a biotech trait produced by CropLife International members in any country.”
