The much-debated Biotechnology Regulatory Authority (NBRA) Bill, being established to approve and regulate the use of biotechnology products in the country, once again failed to be introduced in Parliament in the just concluded Budget session of Parliament as the inter-ministerial consultation could not be concluded on the Bill.

According to sources, though the introduction of the NBRA Bill was accorded top priority by the central government before the commencement of the Budget session in February this year, different ministries involved in finalising the draft could not finalise it as the inter-ministerial consultation was marred by the leakage of the draft by some vested interests. "The leakage of the draft mid-way through the inter-ministerial consultation made the matters worse and caused the delay. Otherwise the Bill could have been introduced in the last session of Parliament," sources said.

Sources said that the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) which is drafting the Bill is yet to get comments from some more departments. Once the DBT gets comments from all the government departments, it will finalise the draft and will send it to the union cabinet for its sanction for the introduction of the bill in Parliament. The government hopes to introduce the Bill in the next session of Parliament for which no date has been fixed yet.

In fact, the NBRA Bill and the Clinical Establishment (Registration & Regulation) Bill, along with the Transplantation of Human Organs (Amendment) Bill, were listed among the 62 new bills to be introduced in the winter session of Parliament which concluded on December 21, 2009. While the Transplantation of Human Organs (Amendment) Bill was introduced in the winter session of Parliament, the other two Bills could not be introduced in Parliament due to several procedural delays.

Then again, the NBRA Bill and the Clinical Establishment (Registration & Regulation) Bill were listed for the Budget session of Parliament which started in February this year. While the Clinical Establishment (Registration & Regulation) Bill was introduced in the budget session, NBRA Bill still could not be introduced in the session which concluded on May 7, due to the prolonged inter-ministerial consultation.

Even though a proposal to establish the NBRA has been pending for a long time now, the issue acquired urgency in the wake of the controversy surrounding the decision of the union environment ministry to put the introduction of genetically modified Bt brinjal on indefinite hold despite a green signal from the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC). As present, the GEAC is the only authorised body in the country to approve the use of a genetically engineered crop or organism. It will cease to exist once the NBRA comes into being.

The NBRA Bill seeks to set up the NBRA as an independent, autonomous, statutory agency to safeguard the health and safety of the people and to regulate the safe development and deployment of biotechnology products and processes in the country. Once in place, the Authority will have overriding powers on matters related to the development and deployment of biotechnology products and processes in the country.