Plea to review GM Mustard appraisal process,respect moratorium

Concerned over appraisal process of GM mustard, several retired judges and bureaucrats today alleged that the country's biotech regulator is making a "mockery" of it and demanded independent scrutiny and transparent public participation in decision-making process.
In a letter to Environment Minister Anil Madhav Dave, they demanded that moratorium on GM mustard be imposed, all the biosafety data be uploaded online by Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) and at least 120 days after that be provided for public responses.
"The most rigorous scrutiny should be encouraged, rather than prevented, by any Regulator entrusted with the clearance of GM crops. The manner in which partial information has been put up, after the CIC had to instruct this to be done....

"...To view thousands of pages of documents and submit their comments, is making a mockery of the process of transparent public review which should be ensured for all GM crop clearance proposals. At least 120 days should be provided for inputs after the full data is disclosed," they said in the letter.
Among the signatories are Armaity S Desai, former chairperson, UGC, Sujata Manohar, former judge of Supreme Court, Sam N Variava, former Supreme Court judge and Justice Ruma Pal, Former Supreme Court judge.
The names also include S K Misra, former secretary agriculture, T S R Subramanian, former cabinet secretary and KR Venugopal, former secretary to the Prime Minister.

They also raised the issue of the proposed GM mustard allegedly being Herbicide-tolerant and the serious concerns in India and worldwide about herbicide-tolerant crops.

They urged the Minister to strictly respect the recommendations of the Supreme Court's Technical Expert Committee as well as the Parliamentary Standing Committee and declare a moratorium on GM crops.
"The highest standards of need assessment, independent scrutiny and transparent public participation in making a decision on an important crop like mustard are essential.
"Doing this by making public all data and allowing at least 120 days thereafter for public responses is a minimal step for a technology that is rejected by the majority of both developed and developing nations," they said.

The letter said that the moratorium on GM crops that has been strongly recommended by the Parliamentary Standing Committee and the Technical Expert Committee of the Supreme Court needs to be "strictly" respected.
"This should begin with a moratorium on the GM mustard which the GEAC seems to be so eager to introduce with unseemly haste and a worrying lack of transparency," they said.