Deliberation on the Biosafety Bill 2014 concludes The National Assembly concluded its deliberation on the Biosafety Bill 2014. Before the Bill was drawn to conclusion, deliberations were held on the section which prohibits research and development involving genetically modified organisms (GMO) capable of reproducing. The majority of the members expressed their support for the section after submission were made that activities related to GMO capable of reproducing should be prohibited given the lack of Bhutanese expertise in the field. After some Members opined on the need to allow research on GMO in the Bill, the Minister for Agriculture & Forest clarified that research was not permissible only for GMO capable of reproducing while it was allowed for GMO not capable of reproducing. Accordingly, the section prohibiting research and development involving genetically modified organisms (GMO) capable of reproducing was endorsed by the House. The House also rigorously deliberated whether or not biosafety should be integrated into educational curricula. The Members argued that if biosafety was to be integrated into educational curricula, it would add on to the burden of the students given the already compact curricula. It was also submitted that anything to be integrated into educational curricula was the mandate of the Ministry of Education and the government and was thus not required to be specified in the Bill. The House therefore resolved to remove the section which provides integration of biosafety into the educational curricula. It was further resolved that awareness programs for schools and institutions would be however ensured. The House after making some changes also endorsed the new section proposed by the Social & Environment Development Committee which reads “Any person importing genetically modified organisms capable of reproducing into the Kingdom shall be punishable for felony of fourth degree”.
Posted on: Thu, 22 May 2014 09:53:41 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015