The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India on 18th November 2022, notified the Food Safety and Standards (Genetically Modified Foods) (Draft) Regulations, 2022. This regulation shall apply to Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) intended for food use, Food ingredients produced from GMOs that contain modified DNA and Food ingredients produced …
Gene banks represent an overdue push to preserve crop biodiversity. It also needs conserving on farms. WITH a heavy clunk, the steel outer doors of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault closed on February 28th, shutting out a howling Arctic gale and entombing a tonne of new arrivals: 25,000 seed samples …
This report provides snapshots of frontline struggles against Monsanto & other biotech corporations pushing GM crops. It shows that small-holder and organic farmers, local communities and social movements around the world are resisting Monsanto and the agro-industrial model that it represents. This report provides snapshots of frontline struggles against Monsanto …
A report on the safety assessment of Bt brinjal (eggplant/aubergine) by Prof. Jack Heinemann has been submitted to India’s Minister of Environment and Forests. Its findings suggest the regulation and official expertise brought to bear on GM crops are either grossly incompetent or worse.
On the second anniversary of the decision taken by the then Minister for Environment & Forests to declare a moratorium on Bt brinjal, the Coalition for a GM-Free India has decided to mark and celebrate February 9th as National Safe Food Day!
In its first major policy announcement of the new year, China has revealed plans to boost spending on agricultural science and technology - continuing a trend towards rapidly-growing farm support in recent years.
Greenpeace India launched a legal assessment report of the the Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India (BRAI),bill 2011. The report `BRAI Bill: A threat to our food and farming’ analyses the various inadequacies within the bill that threatens the safety of our food, health and biodiversity. Neither the preamble to the …
Insects are the pre-eminent form of metazoan life on land, with as many as 1018 individuals alive at any one instant and over three-quarters of a million species described. Although it is estimated that there are as many as 14,000 species that are blood feeders, only three to 400 species …
Experimental releases of genetically modified (GM) insects are reportedly being evaluated in various countries, including Brazil, the Cayman Islands (United Kingdom), France, Guatemala, India, Malaysia, Mexico, Panama, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, the United States of America, and Vietnam. GM mosquitoes (Aedes aegypti) have already been released for field trials into inhabited …
After many years of open discussion and development, the first genetically modified (GM) insect strains are entering field trials. A key engineered trait renders the insects “genetically sterile”, such that some or all of their offspring die; the insects additionally carry a fluorescent marker gene for easy identification. Such “genetic …
Questions have been raised about the transparency and scientific quality of regulatory processes applied in the first open field releases of genetically modified (GM) insects, and there is concern that inappropriate precedents have been set, particularly through generic risk assessments covering multiple species and technologies. The GM insects tested in …
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, …
U.S. biotech firm Monsanto said on Tuesday it does not plan to sell its genetically modified maize MON810 in France this year, nor after, even though the country's highest court overturned a 3-year ban in November. "Monsanto considers that favorable conditions for the sale of the MON810 in France in …
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 …
Genetic engineering has failed to increase the yield of any food crop but has vastly increased the use of chemicals and the growth of “superweeds,” according to a report by 20 Indian, southeast Asian, African and Latin American food and conservation groups representing millions of people. The so-called miracle crops, …
Genetic engineering has failed to increase the yield of any food crop but has vastly increased the use of chemicals and the growth of "superweeds". The GMO Emperor has no clothes empowers citizens to create a GMO-free world, rich in biodiversity and healthy food. It also advances alternatives that are …
Cry1Ac toxin concentration was assessed in leaves of Bt transgenic cotton hybrid grown on shallow (<60 cm) and deep (>90 cm) black soils of Nagpur, Maharashtra, India. Cry toxin concentration increased up to 80 days after sowing followed by a steep decline. In general, toxin concentration was greater …
Commercial and non-commercial plants face a variety of environmental stressors that often cannot be controlled. In this study, transgenic hybrid poplar (Populus × euramericana ‘Guariento’) harboring five effector genes (vgb, SacB, JERF36, BtCry3A and OC-I) were subjected to drought, salinity, waterlogging and insect stressors in greenhouse or laboratory conditions. Field …
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 …
