The regulatory landscape of genetically engineered crops in Pakistan

AbstractGenome editing technology has become part and parcel of biotechnological approach to understand the genetic basis of different biological processes in an organism and for its application in different fields. The basic need of world food production demands a highly variable population of plants with maximum diversity of agronomic traits of interest. Genome editing is unique in the sense that it provides a direct approach to generate targeted variability. The worldwide availability of genome-edited crop varieties in the global market is approaching, whereas the decision to deal with genome-edited (GE) crops differently from genetically transformed crop varieties is under discussion all around the world. GE may add allochthonous or autochthonous sequences into the genome much like traditional transgenesis or cisgenesis. Considering this fact, the United States declared genome-edited crops as conventional. Many countries such as Japan, UK, China, and Brazil have already legislated their GE products and their products are near to get entry to the market. In Pakistan, academic and research-based scientific institutions have been working on genome-edited crops by using CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) Cas technology. As being a signatory of the Cartagena protocol, every case of GM (Genetically modified) or GE (Genetically Engineered) should be passed through the Technical Advisory Committee which will be decided on case-to-case bases dependi...
Source: Food and Energy Security - Category: Food Science Authors: Tags: REVIEW Source Type: research