-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The Union environment ministry has issued an order keeping in abeyance the controversial August, 2007 notification, which allows import of genetically modified (GM) processed food items into India without its prior permission, till March 31, 2014. Though the ministry has continuously been keeping the notification in abeyance since February 2008, this time it has opted for a shorter period - usually it used to be a...

-The Hindu     Questioning a technology, especially of the kind that has serious unknowns and lacks clear social benefits, is not an attack on science Jairam Ramesh, former Environment Minister for India, made the brave decision in 2010 to tell his then apex regulator of genetically modified organisms (GEAC) that it had failed to properly use available science to determine the safety - to human health and the environment - of Bt brinjal,...

-The Economic Times NEW DELHI: A technical committee appointed by the Supreme Court (SC) has recommended an indefinite moratorium on open field trials of genetically-modified (GM) crops till the deficiencies in the regulatory and safety systems are effectively addressed. The recommendations, if accepted by the court, would have a serious impact on the commercialisation of GM crops. In its final report, which was submitted to the court last week, the six-member...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The environment ministry's Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) has cleared field trials for genetically modified rice, wheat, maize and castor for the Kharif season of 2013. The clearances - some of them extension of existing clearances that stood to lapse with state governments opposing field trials and others for relocating trial sites - come while the Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India Bill is pending before the...

-The Hindu     They say Supreme Court-appointed panel's recommendations reasonable Even as the final report of the Supreme Court-appointed Technical Expert Committee (TEC) on open field trials of genetically modified crops is awaited, 51 independent international scientists with expertise in genetic engineering and biosafety protocols have approved the panel's Interim Report. The report has called for a 10-year moratorium on open field trials of Bt food crops until adequate regulatory mechanisms and safety...