Egypt’s National Biosafety Committee Shapes-Up

The Egyptian National Biosafety Committee (NBC) has been reformed to acquire more expertise and to improve its performance. The NBC is headed by the Minister of Agriculture, and  composed of experts from the Ministry of Agriculture, Environment, Health, and Trade, and professors from several Egyptian universities. The main goal of the new NBC is to review the legislations related to the safe use of genetic engineering (GE) and of products derived from molecular biology applications, to avoid any risks to human health and the environment. The NBC is responsible for the approval of biotech products, both for experimental use and for their commercialization. One of the most important roles of NBC is to provide training and technical consultancy in Biosafety regulations to institutes, research bodies, both from the public and private sectors.

For more information contact Mr. Hisham Elshishtawy, the NBC secretariat at hmmsh@hotmail.com.