SC stays commercial release of GM mustard till October 17

Court to hear petition against release, field testing of all GM crops on that day

The Supreme Court on Friday stayed the commercial release of Genetically Modified (GM) variety of Mustard till October 17 after a petition was filed arguing such a release may have severe consequences on the environment and human health.

The petition, filed a day earlier by Aruna Rodriguez, had sought a moratorium on open-field trials and commercial release of all herbicide tolerant (HT) crops such as the Dhara Mustard Hybrid DMH 11 seed, earlier certified as safe for human consumption and the environment by a technical sub-committee under the environment ministry.

The court will now hear the case on October 17, which is the next date of hearing, Pranav Sachdeva, an advocate from the office of principal attorney for the petitioner Prashant Bhushan said.

On Thursday, the ministry said it had received 759 public comments on the decision of the sub-committee, after public protests by several environmental and farmers' organisations. While the comments will now be examined the same committee, the government is technically eligible to allow a commercial release of the seed, Sachdeva said.

However, Environment Minister Anil Madhav Dave had on Thursday refused to fix a deadline on when the committee would resubmit its findings.

On September 5, the technical sub-committee, under the environment ministry's Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC), the regulator for GM crops, had approved the environmental release of the hybrid DMH-11.

Activists have claimed several discrepancies on the part of the technical sub-committee in assessing the environmental impact of releasing the hybrid. The claims include one that assessment for DMH-11 involved significantly fewer tests than had been done for the earlier such food crop, BT brinjal.

The Supreme Court petition also pleaded the court implement a recommendation of a Supreme Court-appointed committee to stay all GM testing. A technical expert committee had in 2012 advocated a 10-year moratorium on commercial release of GM crops, arguing the lack of definite information on long-term safety of GM crops on food crops.

Further details on the court order is expected later in the day.