GM Mustard Permit

The government is allegedly misleading the Supreme Court on the herbicide-tolerant (HT) nature of GM mustard and is trying to "criminalise" farmers for using herbicide on the crop, a group of NGOs opposing genetically modified crops has said. In a letter to Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav, the Coalition of GM-free India also alleged the government is ignoring the clear recommendation by the court-appointed technical expert committee (TEC) for a ban on HT crops in India. "The Union of India is misleading the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India with an assurance that GM mustard is not an HT crop. By repeatedly giving this assurance that GM mustard is not a herbicide-tolerant crop, the Government of India is trying to circumvent the clear recommendation by the court-appointed TEC for a ban on HT crops in India," the letter read. The government is instead seeking to "criminalise" farmers who use herbicide on GM mustard, it said. The approval letter issued by the Genetic Engineeri

The Supreme Court observed on Tuesday it is more concerned about the risk factors than anything else when it comes to the conditional approval granted by the Centre for environmental release of genetically modified (GM) Mustard. On October 25 last year, the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) under the Union environment ministry had approved the environmental release of transgenic mustard hybrid DMH-11 and the parental lines containing barnase, barstar and bar genes so they can be used for developing new hybrids. The apex court is hearing separate pleas by activist Aruna Rodrigues and NGO 'Gene Campaign' seeking a moratorium on the release of any genetically modified organisms (GMOs) into the environment pending a comprehensive, transparent and rigorous bio-safety protocol in the public domain conducted by agencies of independent expert bodies the results of which are made public. The matter came up for hearing on Tuesday before a bench of Justices Dinesh Maheshwari and B

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Activists claims Centre misleading SC on GM mustard

The next hearing will be on November 29

The plea stated that the modified seeds can contaminate non-GM mustard crops and that the sowing of such seeds should be put on hold

Uncertainty surrounds the second attempt to introduce the genetically modified oilseed

The bench queried the Centre's counsel on the current status in connection with the environmental release of GM mustard

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First crop to get such recommendation since Bt cotton in years, say experts

The mustard variety will be the first transgenic food crop to be allowed for commercial cultivation