SIKAP PIHAK BERKEPENTINGAN TERHADAP KECUKUPAN PERATURAN DALAM UNDANG-UNDANG BIOKESELAMATAN DI MALAYSIA

Abstract

Malaysia has identified biotechnology as one of the five major technologies which will drive the country’s transformation into a highly industrialized country by 2020. However, the rapid development of biotechnology has raised concern to the community especially surrounding the safety of biotechnology applications. In Malaysia, the Biosafety Act 2007 was passed by the parliament on July 11, 2007 and came into force on December 1, 2009 to regulate modern biotechnology and its products. However, there have been critics over the inadequacy of the Act involving bio-ethical and socio-economic aspects. Thus a more comprehensive assessment of the adequacy of the regulatory components is needed to ensure the safety of biotechnology and its products. The objectives of this study are to assess the level of trust in key actors, involvement of stakeholders in regulatory activities, to assess the level of consideration of key principles adopted in the Biosafety Act 2007, perception toward the adequacy of risk assessment and management, the adequacy of penalty and public disclosure and attitude toward biosafety in Malaysia. A set of questionnaires was distributed to 451 respondents from various stakeholders in the Klang Valley region. Data analysis was performed using SPSS version 18.0. Results of the study showed that the stakeholders claimed that their level of involvement in regulatory activities was low and trust on key players as moderate. The stakeholders perceived the adequacy of the regulatory structure, risk assessment and management, extent of consideration of key principles adopted in the Biosafety Act 2007, penalty, public disclosure and attitudes toward biosafety as moderate.