The recently concluded UN conference on bio safety was unable to finalize an internationally binding legal agreement that would identify the party liable to pay compensation in case of damage caused by GMOs. Although all parties to protocol were agreed in principle to the fixing of liability.

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Egypt approves commercialisation of first GM crop

Egypt has approved the cultivation and commercialisation of a Bt maize variety, marking the first legal introduction of GM crops into the country. The Egyptian Ministry of Agriculture approved the recommendations  made by the National Biosafety Committee and Seed Registration Committee to allow commercialisation of a GM Bt corn variety. The endorsement was based on a series of field trials conducted between 2002 and 2007 for the MON 810 maize, produced by biotech company Monsanto. Read more...

GEAC ignored Bt cotton toxicity evidence

A Supreme Court nominee to the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) has highlighted biosafety concerns related to Bt cotton which had been  ignored by the GEAC. The expert found that the regulator had ignored evidence of toxicity in Bt cotton which had caused the death of hundreds of sheep in Andhra Pradesh. Read more...

Poland comes with a new bill to ban GMOs

An EU law does not allow member states to overtly ban the cultivation of transgenic food.  But Poland has come up with a novel idea to preserve its ecology. The Polish environment ministry has prepared a new bill on GMOs, which does not formally ban  the cultivation of transgenic plants, but contains provisions which will exclude GMOs for all practical purposes.    Read more...

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