The 19th Biosafety Committee meeting was held under the chairmanship of Secretary Ministry of Climate Change Mr Shahrukh Nusrat. Meeting was attended by Chairman Pakistan Agriculture Research Council (PNRC), Dr. Zafar Yousaf, Director General Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency (Pak-EPA) Miss. Farzana Altaf Shah, Joint Secretary Ministry of National Food Security and Research Dr. Mohammad Khursheed, Secretary KPK Agriculture Research Center Mohammad Israr, Director Sindh Agriculture Research Center Walli Mohammad and others. Director General Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency Miss Farzana Altaf Shah, who is also the secretary of the National Biosafety Committee briefed the committee about the previous meeting agenda and further highlighted that the Technical Advisory Committee(TAC) of Pakistan Agriculture Research Council has discussed the recommendations that were requested by All Pakistan Solvent Extractors Association for the import of Genetically Modified Organism(GMO) canola and soybean seed/grains for food, oil-extraction and processing in Pakistan on trial basis. Moreover,it was recommended by Technical Advisory Committee that the matter be taken up with the Ministry of National Food Security and Research after approval by National Biosafety Committee and the department of Plant Protection should also be involved to provide empirical information for the import of either Genetically Modified Organism(GMO) canola and soybean or Non-genetically Modified Organism canola and soybean. The members of the Biosafety committee observed that precautionary measures are very important prior to the import of the Genetically Engineered seeds/grains because Genetically Engineered Seeds (GMO) posses high vulnerability to the local micro-organism and biotic species. The Technical Advisory Committee of Pakistan Agriculture Research Council forwarded the application of M/s Syngenta Pakistan Limited for the grant of permission to import 10kg Geneticaly Modified corn and Soybean seed each and to conduct multi-location cultivation trial and oil-extraction in Pakistan. If approval is granted the Geneticaly Modified seeds (GMO)may be imported from Chile,Argentina,USA,Brazil and Canada.Mr. Shahrukh Nusrat Secretary Ministry of Climate Change Chairing a Meeting of 19th Biosafety Committee at Islamabad. *-*-*-*
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