 "GM mustard")
Even as India awaits clearance of genetically modified mustard, the regulatory authority in Australia approved the commercial cultivation of the genetically modified Indian mustard species called ‘Brassica juncea’ for herbicide tolerance a few weeks ago.
Scientists said this is, perhaps, the first time a genetically modified variety of Indian mustard has received commercial approval anywhere in the world.
So far, the canola (Brassica napus) is perhaps the only genetically modified mustard variety that has been cleared for commercial application.
GM canola has been in cultivation since 1996 in several countries across the world including Canada, the USA, and even in Australia. Canola is a temperate species of mustard.
The approval has been granted to BASF Australia to commercially release the Indian mustard genetically modified for herbicide tolerance across all of Australia, subject to restrictions in some states and territories for marketing reasons.
At present, Indian mustard varieties are commercially cultivated in a very small part of Australia, mainly in Central New South Wales and western Victoria.
“The regulator has not imposed any specific measures to manage risk, as the risk assessment concluded that this release of GM Indian mustard poses negligible risk to the health and safety of people or the environment. General conditions have been imposed to ensure that there is ongoing oversight of the release,” a statement posted on the website of Australia’s Office of Gene Technology Regulator (OGTR) said.
The risk analysis for this application was carried out in accordance with the Regulator’s Risk Analysis Framework, the statement added.
“GM Indian mustard variety RF3 contains bar gene from Streptomyces hygroscopicus that impart tolerance to herbicide glufosinate whereas barstar gene from Bacillus amyloliquefaciens (a species of bacterium in the genus Bacillus) for restoration of male fertility, and has been developed by crossing non-GM Indian mustard with GM canola, already approved and cultivated successfully on large scale in Australia since 2003. New GM Indian mustard genetically modified for tolerance to Glufosinate Ammonium is approved for commercial cultivation in all mustard growing areas of Australia,” Bhagirath Choudhary, founder director of the South Asia Biotechnology Centre (SABC), wrote in a social media post a few days ago.
He said though India is a major producer of ‘Brassica juncea’ variety of mustard, it has been evaluating the biosafety and field efficacy of GM mustard for almost 20 years now.
“The indigenous GM mustard variety has been developed by Deepak Pental and a team of scientists at University of Delhi and funded entirely by National Dairy Development Board and Department of Biotechnology, India,” Choudhary said.
