13 nations are participating in the South Asia Biosafety Conference (SABC) at Hyderabad, to share international experience amongst scientists and regulators in biotechnology, environmental risk assessment and biosafety regulation in South Asia.
The three-day annual event will cover wide-ranging topics being covered in biotechnology R&D and biosafety.
More than 200 participants from Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, Iran, Japan, Kenya, Philippines, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Tajikistan, and USA are participating in the Conference.
The inaugural session also witnessed the release of Environmental Risk Assessment (ERA) guidance documents, recently adopted by the Indian regulatory authorities to strengthen the ERA process.
This is the fourth Conference, with the first three Conferences being held in New Delhi, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
SABC is organized on an annual basis in the South Asian region by ILSI Research Foundation, and Biotech Consortium India Limited (BCIL) under the South Asia Biosafety Programme.
The International society of biosafety research (ISBR) has supported a poster session and a lighting round for young researchers with awards for best posters in biosafety. 37 posters by participants from various countries have been put up for display.