INDIA RATIFIES BIOSAFETY PROTOCOL
Amidst the growing
worldwide interest in the Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs)
India has ratified the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, the first
international regulatory framework to ensure safety in the transfer,
handling and use of GMOs resulting from modern biotechnology.
This was stated by Shri V.K.Duggal, Special Secretary in the Ministry
of Environment and Forests while inaugurating the Indo-Canadian
Workshop on Biotechnology for Environmental Protection and Sustainable
Development. The Biosafety Protocol ratified last month seeks
to minimise the risks to environment and human health during the
transfer and use of GMOs.
Shri Duggal said
India has a well defined regulatory mechanism for development
and evaluation GMOs. Widespread application of biotechnology in
health, agriculture, pollution control etc. have raised new challenges,
especially for policy makers in the context of biotech interventions
in agriculture products being viewed with logical suspicion, he
said. Recognising the potential of biotechnology to offer solutions
in the area of pollution control, the Government has accorded
priority to programmes in environmental biotechnology. Shri Duggal
emphasised the need to strengthen enforcement mechanism and monitoring
facilities for effective implementation of the regulatory framework.
Application of biotechnology
for environmental protection include bioremediation (the biological
clean up of effluents), innovative solutions to the removal, reduction
and stabilisation of recalcitrant pollutants, detection and prevention
of pollution etc. The two day workshop will deliberate on commercialisation
of environmental biotechnologies, strengthening of the regulatory
framework, capacity building and training programmes for effective
implementation of the Cartagana Protocol on Biosafety, preparation
of data bases for risk assessment and management procedures.
