GM Mustard: Patel urges Centre to follow regulatory process

Amid reports that the government is considering a proposal to permit cultivation of GM Mustard, a Congress leader today urged the Centre to adhere to the moratorium imposed on it saying "inexplicable" secrecy and regulatory "delinquency" on the issue raise serious questions.
Congress leader Ahmed Patel urged the Centre to follow regulatory process and address concerns of stakeholders while questioning the Centre's urgency despite no immediate demand for GM Mustard.
He said that since GM Mustard constitutes a food crop, the highest standards of safety and precaution must be applied before approval is granted.
"Given that there is lack of consensus on GM crops, the government had imposted a moratorium on its commercial cultivation in 2010.

"I urge the government to adhere to this moratorium and in the meanwhile release relevant bio-safety data on GM Mustard, ensure that the regulatory process is duly followed and the concerns of relevant stakeholders are adequately addressed," Patel wrote in his letter to Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar while drawing his attention towards reports that government is considering to accept a proposal permitting commercial cultivation of Dhara Mustard Hybrid 11.
He observed that the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee has rejected RTI requests to make public bio-safety data on the particular variant of GM Mustard.

"Key tests to ascertain the impact of GM Mustard on health and environment is yet to be done. In this context the inexplicable secrecy combined with regulatory delinquency raises serious questions on the entire process being adopted by the government," he said.

He said that various agricultural associations and activists have already petitioned the government that no decision in his matter should be taken unless there is reasonable consensus and fears of farmers and consumers are been allayed.
Patel said the government must ascertain the opinion of a cross section of farmers, scientists, activists and other stakeholders before any such move.
Sharing concerns over the increase in import of vegetable oils, the Congress leader said that GM Mustard is not the "pill" for this problem.
"India faced a similar crisis in 1980s which led to the introduction of Oilseeds Technology Mission. Under the programme, mustard cultivation in Gujarat increased from nine quintals per hectare in 1990 to 16.5 quintals per hectare in 2013-14.

"Therefore in order to reduce our dependence on vegetable oil import, the government may want to first reduce import tariffs, increase the MSP of oil seeds, ensure that government makes timely procurement of oil seeds and stern action is taken on adulteration," he said.