GEAC defers approval for commercial release of GM Mustard

The Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) under the Environment Ministry has suspended the proposal to release the Genetically Modified variety of Mustard -- Dhara Hybrid 11-- for commercial cultivation, official documents showed.

It its meeting held on May 11, the GEAC, a regulator under the Ministry, deferred approval for the release despite the sub-committee giving the GM Mustard technical clearance last year.

"Subsequent to receipt of various representation from different stakeholders, matters related to environmental release of transgenic Mustard are kept pending for further review," the GEAC said in the minutes of the meeting published on the Ministry's website.

The development comes as a setback to Deepak Pental, a geneticist at Delhi University, who developed the Dhara Hybrid 11.

Earlier, it was reported that the GEAC had recommended commercial release of the GM- Mustard variety and the Environment Minister was supposed to take a final call on it.

The Central government had in July this year told the Supreme Court that it would take a decision in a month-and-a-half on whether to allow the commercial roll out of GM mustard crop in the country.

There have been voices against the commercial cultivation of GM crops raising fears that it may have an adverse impact on the health of the people and biodiversity in the country

In June this year, the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences, an agriculture think tank of 650 scientists, had urged the government to allow commercial use of GM mustard and to support scientists to develop such hybrids in the future.

--IANS

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