GM soybean, corn and cotton decisions deferred: National Biosafety Committee sends cases back

Pakistan has put off decisions on genetically modified (GM) soybean meal imports, the renewal of GM corn biosafety licences and several GM cotton applications, ProPakistani reported on Friday 23 October. The decision came at the 38th meeting of the National Biosafety Committee (NBC), held at the Ministry of Climate Change and Environmental Coordination.

Why the decisions were deferred

The NBC said the recommendations from the 45th meeting of its Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) were not clear enough to decide on. It sent the pending cases back to the TAC and asked for clearer recommendations. No new date was reported.

On the table were:

• approval of soybean meal imports for food, feed and processing;
• renewal of biosafety licences for GM corn;
• several cotton-related applications.

The 2019 hold on GM food crops

The committee also discussed the hold on commercial growing of GM corn and other biotech food crops. A representative of the Ministry of National Food Security and Research said the government suspended commercialisation of biotech food crops in 2019 until a full policy was in place. That gap, the representative said, has been closed by the National Agricultural Biotechnology Policy 2025, which sets the rules for assessing and approving biotech crops, and authorities have been told to proceed under it.

What it means for you

Poultry and feed: soybean meal is the main protein in poultry and cattle feed, and Pakistan imports most of it. Feed costs pass through to chicken and egg prices. The NBC report does not say whether any cargo is waiting now, so there is no sign yet of a price effect; chicken was already up 12% in a week in the latest SPI inflation figures (see our CPI data page for the monthly picture).

Farmers: corn and cotton growers waiting on new GM seed approvals will have to wait for the TAC's next recommendations and another NBC meeting.

Shoppers: nothing changes on the shelf. GM soybean meal is used mainly in feed, not sold to consumers directly.

We will update this story when the NBC takes the cases up again.