Pakistan deferred decisions on several genetically modified (GM) crop applications during the 38th meeting of the National Biosafety Committee (NBC). The committee held the session at the Ministry of Climate Change and Environmental Coordination.
Pending cases involving soybean imports, corn biosafety licences, and cotton-related matters were sent back to the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) for further review. Officials found that recommendations from the 45th meeting of the TAC failed to provide sufficiently clear conclusions.
The meeting agenda included requests for soybean meal imports for food, feed, and processing, alongside the renewal of biosafety licences for genetically modified corn. Members also discussed several cotton-related applications and the current hold on commercialising biotech food crops and genetically modified corn.
A representative of the Ministry of National Food Security and Research stated that the government suspended commercialisation activities for biotech food crops in 2019. The same representative confirmed that the National Agricultural Biotechnology Policy 2025 has been approved and notified.
This new policy establishes a regulatory framework for assessing and commercialising agricultural biotechnology products. Authorities have been instructed to proceed under the terms of the approved policy.
