February 11, 2010

Developing countries lack biosafety norms to test GM crops

As many as 100 developing countries lack biosafety norms to test the risks posed by GM crops to human health, environment and biodiversity.

A growing number of countries have begun investing in developing national biosafety frameworks for GM crops but progress is still slow, according to US-based think tank International Food and Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) in a report.

Interestingly, benefits, costs and implications of the potential introduction of the technology have received only cursory attention from most regulatory systems, said the report.

Stating that biosafety needs to be a process trusted by society, the report suggested developing countries to adopt flexible and efficient biosafety regulatory norms to benefit not only from the GM crops currently in the pipeline, but also from unforeseen farm technologies that will emerge in future.