Biotech Updates

Pakistan Biotechnology Report

October 16, 2009

Despite the lack of any approved GM crop in Pakistan, it is estimated that over 90 percent of the 2009 cotton crop, covering an area of about 8.5 million acres, was planted in illegal biotech varieties, according to a new USDA Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) GAIN report. The report also enumerated several genetically modified crops currently being developed by private companies and public research institutions in the country, including blight and insect-resistant rice, insect resistant cotton, virus-resistant tomato, potato, chickpea and pepper. According to the report, the National Biosafety Committee (NBC) of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has granted approval for green house and field testing of 39 GM crop varieties.

Download the USDA-FAS GAIN report at http://gain.fas.usda.gov/Recent%20GAIN%20Publications/AGRICULTURAL%20BIOTECHNOLOGY%20ANNUAL_Islamabad_Pakistan_9-15-2009.pdf