The scientific and policy debate on the potential benefits and risks of biotechnologies remains polarized. As more genetically modified crops, insects, and fish are developed, the 2000 Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety to the Convention on Biological Diversity provides a forum to monitor developments and address risk assessment and risk management …
The Lahore High Court has ordered the federal government to stop issuing licences for genetically-modified (GM) varieties of cotton or corn until a legal framework is put into place to assess the new types of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) that are fast cropping up every day. The decision effectively halts …
The country is heading for commercialisation of genetically modified (GM) crops, in the absence of a strong regulatory system, trained staff and well-equipped laboratory to deal with the issues involved, according to an officer. “The government is handicapped, from field testing to approval and finally, commercialisation of GM crops,” an …
Vermont has become the first U.S. state to mandate labeling of foods made with genetically modified organisms. The law is expected to be challenged in court by some food and agriculture companies. The law, set to take effect July 1, 2016, would for the first time align at least a …
Vermont became the first state in the US on Thursday to adopt a law requiring labels for foods containing genetically modified ingredients. The state's governor, Peter Shumlin, announced on his Twitter feed that he would hold a signing ceremony on Thursday afternoon to sign the new measure into law. The …
Farmers in Gazipur who were given the controversial Bt brinjal saplings have said they would no more cultivate the genetically engineered crop as the cultivation has ruined them. During a spot visit on Monday at four Bt brinjal fields in Gazipur, New Age found that Bt brinjal plants faced several …
A law that would make Vermont the first U.S. state to enact mandatory labeling of foods made with genetically modified organisms, or GMOs, received final approval from state lawmakers on Wednesday and now heads to the governor's desk. The Vermont House of Representative passed the bill 114-30. Last week, the …
You can trace the genetic makeup of most corn grown in the U.S., and in many other places around the world, to Hawaii. The tiny island state 2,500 miles from the nearest continent is so critical to the nation's modern corn-growing business that the industry's leading companies all have farms …
The Vermont Senate passed a bill on Wednesday that would make it the first U.S. state to enact mandatory labeling of foods made with genetically modified organisms, or GMOs. Unlike bills passed last year in Maine and Connecticut, which require other states to pass GMO labeling laws before they can …
France's lower house of parliament adopted a law on Tuesday prohibiting the cultivation of any variety of genetically modified maize, saying it posed a risk to the environment. France adopted a decree last month to halt the planting of Monsanto's insect-resistant MON810 maize, the only GM crop allowed for cultivation …
THE agricultural minister on January 22 distributed Bt Brinjal saplings along with booklets among 20 farmers selected from four districts at a ceremony, organised by the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute, at the Bangladesh Agricultural Council in the capital Dhaka. ‘There is no alternative to GM crops, to ensure food security …
The Punjab government has started selling genetically modified (GM) cotton seeds that have never been field tested in Pakistan and approved for commercialisation. The move can have a negative impact on the crop production besides posing risks to the export of cotton products, especially to the western countries under the …
Soon after Environment and Forests Minister Veerappa Moily reversed his predecessor Jayanti Natarajan’s stance and permitted field trials of genetically modified (GM) crops, the Centre Wednesday urged the Supreme Court to let them go ahead with it in the interest of India’s science and economy. The latest affidavit filed by …
To accommodate high levels of Roundup residues in GM soya, limits were raised 200-fold - with no scientific justification and ignoring growing evidence of toxicity. What Monsanto calls 'extreme levels' are now the norm - but only in GM crops. Food and feed quality are crucial to human and animal …
Environmental group Greenpeace today moved the Election Commission, seeking annulment of the GEAC decision to revalidate the field trials for ten varieties of genetically modified (GM) food crops. In its letter to Chief Election Commissioner V S Sampath, Greenpeace India Executive Director Samit Aich also asked the Election Commission to …
Genetically modified Bt brinjal will be on sale along with indigenous varieties in the market as the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute refuses to follow the condition for its marketing set by ministry of forest and environment. Consumers will have no choice between local varieties of brinjals and Bt brinjals, as …
This Report of the Committee on Agriculture deals with the action taken by the Government on the recommendations contained in the Thirty-seventh Report of the Committee on Agriculture (2012-2013) on "Cultivation of Genetically Modified Food Crops - Prospects And Effects" of The Ministry of Agriculture (Department of Agriculture and Cooperation) …
Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute is now developing genetically modified potato varieties after introducing first genetically modified vegetable Bt Brinjal amid strong protests from green activists. BARI director general Rafiqul Islam Mondal said that the genetically modified potato varieties would be late blight resistant and they would be released for commercial …
Bangladesh Bank has asked scheduled banks to submit information about import of ‘controversial’ genetically modified soya bean oil as the importers are now importing the products violating the existing acts and regulations. Bangladesh Environment Lawyers Association earlier applied to the commerce ministry under the Right to Information Act 2009 seeking …
Amid fears of adverse impacts of genetically-modified crop on biodiversity and human health, a limited produce of controversial Bt brinjal is likely to arrive on the local market in May. Experts and fair-farming activists have been claiming that GM foods would affect biodiversity and could cause severe health hazards to …
Reversing his predecessor Jayanti Natarajan’s stance, M Veerappa Moily, Minister for Petroleum, Natural Gas and Environment, has approved the biotech regulator – Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC)’s year-old decision to permit field trials of genetically modified crops such as rice, wheat and maize among others. Expert panel “We have no …
