In the wake of technical approval granted to Bt cotton varieties by technical advisory committee (TAC), the National Bio-Safety Committee (NBC) would forward the proposal to Punjab Seed Council (PSC) for final approval.
"Punjab Seed Council (PSC) would meet this month to consider the cases of Bt cotton varieties for final approval", said Dr Noorul Islam, director research Punjab, Ayub Agriculture Research Institute (AARI), Faisalabad, while talking to APP on telephone Saturday.
The NBC approval will pave the way for commercial certification to market the Bt cotton varieties, the agriculture scientist said, adding that PSC will take up the case after formal approval by NBC. He said the process would be completed soon, "Because Chief Minister is taking keen interest in the matter to enable growers have access to approved Bt cotton varieties".
PSC has received some eight to ten Bt cotton varieties and it is hoped that half of them will be approved, said the researcher. All the Bt cotton varieties undergoing study by PSC have same Bt gene, Bollguard-I of Monsanto, sources said. Experts believe that transgenic cotton varieties have in- built safety system against bollworm and thus can reduce growers' cost on bollworm specific pesticides.
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