A Supreme Court appointed committee had recommended an indefinite moratorium on field trials of Genetically Modified (GM) crops till the government fixes regulatory and safety aspects and a ban on introduction of GM varieties in regions of their origin.
The final report submitted to the court last week and made public on Monday does not mention 10 year moratorium on field trials of GM crops as suggested in the interim report. Instead, it has imposed four conditions for “meaningfully” consideration for allowing trials.
The conditions suggested are setting up a secretariat of experts to look into bio-safety issues, housing the new bio-technology regulatory in either environment or health ministry, identification of specific sites for conducting of field tests and mandatory stakeholder participation as part of risk management strategy
Read the full story here: Supreme Court committee says no to GM crops for time-being
