Issue of GM mustard's release not taken up in GEAC meet

Country's biotech regulator GEAC, which met today, did not take up the issue of commercial release of genetically modified (GM) mustard.
Senior Environment Ministry officials said the contentious issue did not figure in the agenda during the meeting of the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC).
"GM mustard was not on the agenda today and no discussion on it took place. Other GEAC matters were discussed," a top official told PTI.
The GEAC had constituted a sub-committee to review the technical details and dossier related to environmental release of Genetically Engineered mustard (Brassica juncea) hybrid DMH-11 and use of parental events (varuna bn 3.6 and EH2 mod bs 2.99) for development of new generation hybrids submitted by the Centre for Genetic Manipulation of Crop Plants (CGMCP), Delhi University South Campus.

The Environment Ministry has received over 700 comments from various stakeholders, including farmers and researchers, on the Assessment of Food and Environmental Safety (AFES) report on environmental release of GE Mustard which it had put up on the ministry's website earlier.
With the anti-GM activists opposing the approval for GM mustard and upping their ante against the "unscientific" appraisal process, the ministry had said after evaluating all the comments, a sub-committee will submit its final report to the GEAC.