The government has said it is proposing to set up a National Biotechnology Regulatory Authority in the first quarter of 2010, which will ensure that strict scientific assessments are followed while testing of biotech crops.
"We have proposed for setting up of the National Biotechnology Regulatory Authority, which may come up by early next year, as it has to be passed through Parliament," Department of Biotechnology Director S R Rao said at a function here.
He said the authority will help in ensuring that biotechnology policies are strictly based on scientific assessment of risk and not on any sloganeering and campaigning by public interest groups.
The Department of Biotechnology is also considering setting up an Agri-Biotech Policy Unit in collaboration with all stakeholders so that high level safety standards are maintained in testing of biotech crops, which causes no harm to the agricultural environment of the country, he added.