Gm Mustard Seed Release

Supreme Court reserves order on environmental release of GM mustard

The Supreme Court on Thursday reserved its order on a pleas seeking moratorium on release of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) into the environment. A bench of Justices BV Nagarathna and Sanjay Karol heard submissions from Attorney General R Venkataramani, Solicior General Tushar Mehta and advocates Prashant Bhushan and senior advocate Sanjay Parikh. The top court directed the parties to file written submissions by January 22. Observing that the issue of genetically modified crops is very technical and scientific, the top court on Wednesday had said it will decide a plea on environmental release of GM mustard on the basis of what is good for the country,. The apex court had earlier questioned the Centre about why reports of the court-appointed Technical Experts Committee (TEC) on biosafety of genetically modified (GM) crops were not looked into by the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC). It asked Attorney General R Venkataramani, appearing for the Centre, whether th

GM Mustard: It's risk factor which concerns us more, observes SC

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

Lobby to intensify protests against environmental release of GM mustard

Almost 200 activists gathered outside the Directorate of Mustard Research in Bharatpur (Rajasthan), calling for halting the approvals

SC orders status quo on sowing of GM mustard; next hearing on Nov 10

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

Solvent Extractors Assn seeks release of 100 kg GM mustard for this rabi

Edible oil body plans sow the seeds in 200 out of the 1,000-odd model mustard farms that it plans to set up this season

RSS affiliates want GM mustard approval withdrawn immediately

BKS calls for CBI and ED probe while office of PM's scientific advisor welcomes it

GM Mustard could open door for 100-odd crops in pipeline

After many ifs and buts, commercial release of genetically modified mustard seems to have reached a decisive phase after the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) recommending its release to the ministry of environment and forests yesterday. The MoEF will now take a final call on whether Herbicide-Tolerant GM mustard can become the first genetically modified food crop to be cultivated in India or it meets the same fate as BT brinjal was when the then environment stayed the release on the grounds of insufficient evidence on safety in 2010. The decisive factor in this case would be the Supreme Court's observation which is hearing a case against commercial release of GM mustard. The Central government has earlier on record said that any decision on commercial release of GM mustard would depend on directions from the apex court. It now remains to be seen, whether it sticks to its earlier assurance or violates that. If cleared, it would also open the door for entry of around ...

Hope SC lifts stay on GM mustard seed release, says SEA

At present, mustard seed output is around 7 million tonnes