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A proposal from the French president Jacques Chirac to set up an international council of scientists to validate new foods was rejected at last weekend's summit of leaders of the G8 industrialized countries in Cologne.

But the participants pledged a “science-based, rules-based” approach to addressing the consequences of biotechnology. The meeting also agreed to commission a study of the implications of biotechnology from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The findings will be considered at the next summit.

The Chirac proposal fell foul of the US delegation, which described it as protectionist. But environmental issues were prominent in the meeting's final communiqué.

The meeting pledged to clarify the relationship between the rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and United Nations environment conventions. This is a reference to the impasse between the Trade Related Agreement on Intellectual Property Rights of the WTO, and the UN biodiversity convention over the sharing of benefits from patents on indigenous plants. The meeting also pledged “early entry into force” of the Kyoto Protocol on climate change.

Education was another major theme. Delegates promised to promote more teacher and student exchanges between the G8 and other countries.