Mr Sen contended that regulations, which selectively capture products of plant biotechnology, does not reflect the scientific consensus on risk, stifles scientific research and is overly burdensome.

"There is no evidence that transferring genes from unrelated organisms to plants pose unique risks. The risks associated with plant varieties developed using biotechnology, are the same as those for similar varieties developed using classical breeding methods," he argued.

Since the new methods were more precise and allowed for better characterisation of the changes being made, plant developers and food producers were in better position to assess safety than using classical breeding methods, Mr Sen said.

Department of biotechnology (DBT) secretary Manju Sharma said direct application of this field had opened up enormous possibilities of commercial and economic utilisation of the research results. (PTI)Sharma said biotechnology would need sustained efforts,W partnerships, new institutional structures and prioratisation to tackle location specific problems.

"Capabilities developed in the fields of genomics,structural biology, immunology, computational biology and recombinant DNA technology would trigger growth in areas of agriculture and health as also environment and conservation of precious biological resources," she said.

Bioinformatics, Sharma said, were poised to become a verypowerful tool in the utilisation of biotechnology and urged scienctists to develop a holistic view for development of this field in the 21st century.

Sen said advances in the technology could produce cropswith a wide range of desirable traits that would directly benefit farmers, consumers, environment and increase global food production and quality.