The health ministry on Thursday forcefully denied the allegation levelled by the opposition that Indian girls are being used as guinea pigs for anti-cervical cancer vaccines. Health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, replying to a calling attention notice in the Rajya Sabha, said that use of HPV (human papillomavirus) vaccines imported by Merck and CERVARIX (manufactured by GSK) have been stopped in the country. The ministry has also constituted a committee...

In the wake of reports of violation of ethical guidelines and exploitation during the “clinical trials” of HPV (human papilloma virus) vaccine, meant to prevent cervical cancer among women, the Centre on Wednesday advised the State governments to suspend the vaccine programme until the issue is settled. Director-General of the Indian Council of Medical Research V.M. Katoch told The Hindu that he had asked the Health Ministry, the State governments and...

Sesikaran says Bt crop’s long-term effect on health can be studied only if it’s approved for commercial production Concerns raised by agriculture scientist M.S. Swaminathan, cited by the government as among the reasons to put a halt to the release of Bt brinjal, will be impossible to address, according to the head of a state-run laboratory. Swaminathan, 84, credited with the success of the Green Revolution of the 1960s that made India...

The controversy around Bt brinjal has served at least one good purpose. The government has fast-tracked the process of setting up a biotechnology regulator. A regulatory authority is to be set up under an Act of Parliament. A longstanding proposal that has been gathering dust in the Department of Biotechnology has seen the light of day. The Union Cabinet is expected to consider this proposal and bring it to Parliament....

It is a step which is expected to reduce the room for political and technical whims and biases, bring in transparency and satisfy safety concerns about biotech products the country needs but is chary of embracing. The government has fasttracked a long-pending Bill to set up the Biotechnology Regulatory Authority. The Bill, revised and discussed by a committee of secretaries on Thursday, if cleared, would overhaul the current flawed regulatory...