Workshop on Environmental Risk Assessment of Genetically Engineered Plants

Three workshops, organized by the Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change, and coordinated by Biotech Consortium India Limited (BCIL) and the Agriculture & Food Systems Institute, were given at the National Agricultural Science Centre Complex in New Delhi, on February 22-25, 2016. The purpose of the workshops was to build capacity in the assessment of environmental risks posed by commercial releases of genetically engineered (GE) crops and to facilitate the deployment of new GE crops developed by public sector scientists in India.

Program

This two-day workshop provided an introduction to the concepts of environmental risk assessment of GE crops as well as the use of problem formulation to provide a transparent, organized framework for risk assessments. The workshop also provided focused training on the special topics of impact assessment on non-target organisms and evaluation of potential weediness and invasiveness of GE crops. There were approximately 45 participants from public sector research programs in India, representing a wide variety of crops and research interests.