Govt panel clears GM mustard seed

New Delhi, August 25

A government panel has cleared commercial use of what would be India’s first genetically modified (GM) food crop, but politicians still have to give final approvals amid widespread public opposition.

Technical clearance for indigenously developed GM mustard seeds was given on August 11 by the panel of government and independent experts, following multiple reviews of crop trial data generated over almost a decade, it is learnt.

The decision to go ahead is likely to be made public soon by the environment ministry’s Genetic Engineering Approval Committee, and is expected eventually to move to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s desk via Environment Minister Anil Madhav Dave.

The environment ministry said no final decision had been taken yet and that its Genetic Engineering Approval Committee will put up a “safety document” on its website seeking comments from the public.

News of the approval comes when US seed maker Monsanto — which dominates the GM cotton market in India — faces heightened government regulation that has forced it to consider quitting a country it has operated in for decades.

Monsanto has withdrawn an application seeking approval for its next generation GM cotton seeds in India, escalating a long-running dispute between New Delhi and the world’s biggest seed maker.

Top India executives of multinationals like Monsanto, Bayer Biosciences, Dow AgroSciences, DuPont Pioneer and Syngenta have called a news conference on Friday to make an “important announcement”.

India placed a moratorium on GM Brinjal in 2010, also after an experts’ panel had given its clearance, effectively bringing the regulatory system to a deadlock. Modi, however, who was instrumental in making Gujarat the country’s leading user of GM cotton when he was chief minister there, cleared several field trials for GM crops soon after taking office in New Delhi in 2014.

The GM mustard developed by Delhi University scientists makes use of three genes already incorporated in rapeseed hybrids in Canada, the US and Australia. — Reuters