Biosafety Guidelines

Concern over GMOs prompted the World Health Organization to set up an informal working group on biosafety in 1991, which produced a voluntary code of practice for releasing organisms into the environment; the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB) has since played a significant international role on biosafety and on the environmentally sustainable use of biotechnology, publishing guidance on the main areas of concern — risk to human health, to the environment, and to agriculture. In India, the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) developed its own rDNA safety guidelines under powers granted by the Environmental Protection Act, 1986, covering the manufacture, use, import, export and storage of hazardous microorganisms and genetically engineered organisms and cells. These guidelines are implemented and monitored on the ground by the same institutional chain used for approvals — the Institutional Biosafety Committees (IBSCs), the Review Committee on Genetic Manipulation (RCGM) and the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) under the …