SC to hear plea for halting GM mustard's field trials, commercial release

The Supreme Court will hear, on Friday, a plea seeking a halt to the open field trials and the commercial release of genetically modified mustard and other crops.

The bench of Chief Justice T.S. Thakur, Justice A.M. Khanwilkar and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud agreed to hear the matter on Friday after counsel Prashant Bhushan mentioning the matter for an urgent hearing, telling the court that once genetically modified mustard was released for commercial use, then it would become irreversible.

Seeking the implementation of the recommendations of the Technical Expert Committee, the applicant Aruna Rodrigues and others have sought direction for inquiry and report on the field trials and application process of genetically modified mustard.

Seeking a moratorium on the commercialisation of any other Genetically Modified Crop, the petitioners have said that genetically modified crops should not be released in open until there was a "comprehensive, transparent and rigorous biosafety protocol in the public domain conducted by agencies of independent expert bodies, the results of which are made public".

--IANS

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