India on Tuesday unveiled its first breakthrough vaccine for severe rotavirus diarrhoea, which kills more than 1 lakh children under five in the country every year.

Plea to remove Agriculture Ministry’s nominee from panel

The Coalition for GM-free India has urged the Supreme Court to “remove” the Agriculture Ministry’s nominee from the Technical Expert Committee (TEC) on genetically modified crops on account of alleged ‘conflict of interest’ in the matter of a PIL filed on Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs).
The committee that was set up to advise the court on the technicality of whether the GMOs should be banned or not, has, in its interim report, recommended a 10-year moratorium on field trials of GM crops in the country till such time a proper regulatory system is put in place.

Several women’s NGOs, including Women for Diversity, Guild of Services, Diverse Women for Diversity and Gene Ethics Australia, have launched a combined campaign against genetically-engineered (GMO) bananas.

Dr Vandana Shiva has questioned why India should finance the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) in Australia to develop GMO bananas when research in this area has already been done by the a team from the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (Barc).

Meeting will give rein to hazardous industries, says Coalition for GM-free India

The Union Ministry of Agriculture has no intention of keeping off a conference it has supported despite the Coalition for GM-free India having taken umbrage at the Government associating with an event organised by the agro-chemical industry to be addressed by speakers known for being promoters of genetically modified (GM) crops as an answer to food security.

Realising the urgency for the industry to take a pro-active stance to create patient awareness and education about clinical research, The Association of Biotechnology Led Enterprises (ABLE) is planning to set up a clinical trials committee.

This move is to assist the government and the industry to share information arising from drug trials in public domain in an accessible and anonymous form. However, this must be balanced with the need to ensure disclosure policies protect patients’ personal data, companies’ intellectual property rights and confidential commercial information in order to continue to develop innovative medicines in areas of unmet clinical need.

Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar on Sunday blamed companies in countries with GM technology-driven agriculture, like the United States, for the opposition to GM crops in India, adding that they don't want the country to be self-sufficient in food, especially oils.

"In the US, the entire soyabean production is done with genetically modified (GM) technology. India has to import edible oils worth Rs 60,000 crore. There is growing opposition to GM technology here, though it helps to increase productivity as is evident from our cotton experience. You have adopted GM in your country but you don't let that happen in India. This is not proper and it is alarming," said Pawar.