(GEAC), India’s apex biotech regulatory committee constituted by the Ministry of Environment and Forests put on its website the decision of its 117th meeting held in March, clearing field trials of GM rice, wheat, maize, castor and cotton for the upcoming kharif season
The Union government has put on hold the clearances of field trials of certain genetically modified crops (GM), after it inadvertently put them as ‘approved’ on the Environment Ministry’s website recently.
The Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC), India’s apex biotech regulatory committee constituted by the Ministry of Environment and Forests on last Tuesday put on its website the decision of its 117th meeting held in March, clearing field trials of GM rice, wheat, maize, castor and cotton for the upcoming kharif season. The clearances were subject to the submission of ‘no-objection-certificate (NOC)’ from the respective state governments.
While it came as a major relief to the agri-biotech industry, on Thursday, the ministry suddenly withdrew the minutes of the meeting from the website without citing any reason.
A senior official of GEAC on conditions of anonymity told Express the clearances are not yet given.
“The unconfirmed minutes were wrongly uploaded. It will be considered approved only after these (clearances) are confirmed in the next meeting (118th) as and when it is held,” the official said.
Meanwhile, the state’s Agriculture Minister Krishna Byre Gowda is vocal about the GM crops. It is said it would have been easier for the companies to get the state government nod and go ahead with the trials this season if the GEAC approved the applications.
Companies like Monsanto Holdings Private Ltd, Bayer Bioscience Pvt Ltd, Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds Co Ltd (Mayhco), Syngenta Biosciences Pvt Ltd, BASF and Central Institute of Cotton Research, Nagpur are waiting to conduct field trials and seeking extension of validity for event selection trials for certain varieties of cotton, maize, rice, wheat and castor. The trials are to be conducted in the company farms and in the fields of University of Agriculture Sciences in various states, which include Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Rajastan and Tamil Nadu.
The clearances are put on hold keeping in mind the ongoing case in the Supreme Court challenging the existing regulatory mechanism for GM crops in the country. Also, the Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India (BRAI) bill pending with the Parliamentary Standing Committee is showing no sign of progress.
The decision of the body has made the industry sulk.
“It is unfortunate to note that the government has withdrawn permissions to conduct field trials. These are only trials for evaluation of bio-safety (safety as food, feed, and safety of environment). Without these
field trials we cannot make any advances. The choice in crop production is being ignored,” said N Seetharama, Executive Director of Association of Biotech Led Enterprises-Agriculture Group (ABLE-AG).
Meanwhile, Coalition for a GM Free India, a network of organisations, scientists, farmer unions, consumer groups and individuals recently released a compilation of more than 400 published papers showing adverse impacts of the GM crops.
According to ABLE-AG, the applications are pending for two the crops cotton and maize, which will be tested in Karnataka (Subject to approvals).
Cotton
In addition to BT, now a herbicide tolerant (HT) trait is also included in the stacked product ready for testing.
In case of maize, both BT and HT traits will be tried individually and in combination of both.
Controversy
The GM wheat variety ‘Mon 71800’ of Monsanto, which was never authorised and commercialised in the US is creating ripples in the US market at present for allegedly contaminating wheatfield after its field trials. The same variety is awaiting approval from GEAC here in India now.
Seetharama said the case of wheat contamination in US could be accidental and it cannot be generalised and applied here.
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