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The Indian Council of Medical Research along with Review Committee on Genetic Modification (RCGM) and Genetic Engineering Approval Committee is formulating protocols to assess the safety of food derived from genetically engineered crops. "The new set of protocols is aimed at the stage prior to the making of a GM seed. We will test a particular protein for toxicity and only if we find it safe, we will go ahead with it,' says K K Tripathi, member secretary, RCGM. Activists, going by previous records, remain sceptical. They are also concerned about the involvement of a Canadian company, AGBIOS, in the protocol-formation process. The United States Department of Agriculture has used the company's services for the introduction of GM crops in several countries, says Kavitha Kuruganti of Centre for Sustainable Agriculture, Hyderabad. Tripathi clarifies: "They work as a consultancy firm in India for capacity building and dissemination of safety and risk assessment of the GM crops at the ground level. But they have no role in drafting guidelines for safety of genetically modified crops.'
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