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 …
Genetically modified crops or organisms (GMOs) are produced by the now well-known branch of molecular biology, the recombinant DNA technology or genetic engineering. The share of GM crops in world agriculture is increasing steadily. From 1996 to 2009, the cultivation of GM crops has seen an 80-fold increase. In India, …
16 firms/institutions have been allowed to conduct experiments by panel The government’s non-chalance over the issue has raised concerns in many quarters. It has been over two months since the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) gave its approval to 16 companies and research institutions to conduct open air/field trials on …
The National Academy of Agricultural Sciences has come out with the latest policy paper on Biosafety Assurance for GM Food Crops in India that contains science-based recommendations and concrete actions for safe, inclusive and judicious harnessing of GM technologies for accelerated and sustained crop production. The NAAS policy paper critically …
Concerns regarding the commercial release of genetically engineered (GE) crops include naturalization, introgression to sexually compatible relatives and the transfer of beneficial traits to native and weedy species through hybridization. To date there have been few documented reports of escape leading some researchers to question the environmental risks of biotech …
BIOTECH companies in the agriculture sector have taken to a publicity blaze in recent months, splashing advertisements that extol the “inherent safety” of genetically modified (GM) crops along with organising a series of farmer meets and press conferences aimed at promoting transgenic technology as the “powerful and safe” way to …
FEW laws have been embraced as wholeheartedly by industry as BRAI or the Biotech Regulatory Authority of India Bill, 2011. Yet to be introduced in Lok Sabha, following a last-minute hitch, the proposed law has received the full support of the Association of Biotech Led Enterprises (ABLE) and other leading …
In the midst of a dire need to feed millions of people facing hunger because of drought, Kenya's newly passed Biosafety Act allows for the importation of GM crops - but at what cost? As the most severe drought crisis in 60 years continues in East Africa, a contentious issue …
Delhiites join Greenpeace to oppose the proposed ‘GM-friendly' biotechnology Bill Greenpeace members were joined by Delhiites at Dilli Haat near INA Market here on Tuesday morning to cook a record-breaking GM-free baingan ka bharta to oppose the Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India Bill, 2011. The cooking was part of a …
Expressing concern over the presence of uranium in drinking water in Punjab, a Parliamentary panel has asked the Centre to take remedial measures "without any loss of time" after it received a BARC report on the matter. The Standing Committee on Rural Development, chaired by Sumitra Mahajan, also asked the …
The probability of crop-to-wild gene flow depends on the geographic distribution of crops and their wild relatives. In this context, caution has been advised in relation to the release of transgenic crops into their centres of origin, i.e. the geographical regions in which they were domesticated, and where wild relatives …
GM crops are being cultivated for the last 15 years in many countries and culminating in the last year, GM crops were planted in more than 1 billion hectares (b ha) by nearly 15 million farmers. In India, about 6.3 million farmers cultivated Bt cotton last year (http://www.isaaa.org) in more …
The diversity of opinions that debates about Bt brinjal have generated over the last year (for example, see refs 1–8) has contributed to the haziness of the future of the variety. This note attempts to collate the opinions of various scientists in the hope that some clarity may emerge if …
Even as the area around Parliament was swamped by crowds of Anna Hazare's supporters, demanding a stronger Lokpal Bill on Wednesday, a small group of environmental activists staged their own demonstration against a different bill, the Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India (BRAI) Bill, 2011. Science and Technology Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh …
Genetically Engineered/Modified (GE/GM) crops are organisms created artificially in labs by forcibly inserting genes of unrelated organisms into the genetic structure of the plant. Genetically engineered crops are unpredictable in their character and the plants once released in the environment are uncontrollable and can never be taken back. www.greenpeace.org/india/Global/india/report/brai%20%20critique.pdf
The BRAI Bill is a blatant attempt to bulldoze through the public resistance and genuine concerns about Genetically Modified crops, and to deny state governments their Constitutional authority over Agriculture and Health, said the Coalition for a GM-Free India in its reaction to the Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India 2011 …
The Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India Bill, 2011 aims to promote the safe use of modern biotechnology by enhancing the effectiveness and efficiency of regulatory procedures and provide for establishment of the Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India to regulate the research, transport, import, manufacture and use of organisms and products …
Drawing on the literature on controversies, especially on the health risk assessment of genetically modified organisms in Europe, and long-standing debates in science and technology studies, this article argues that science-based risk assessment has inherent limitations, however rigorous, independent, and peer reviewed the work may be. In this context, the …
New Delhi With the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) making it mandatory for the agri bio-tech companies to get no-objection certificate (NOC) from the states prior to the launch of any trial of GM crops has been termed as ‘regressive’ by a consortium Association of Bio-tech Led Enterprises - Agriculture …
