Genetically modified (GM) crops are back in the debate in India, with the Indian Government standing on the verge of approving what could be the first transgenic food crop to be cultivated in the country – GM mustard. A technical panel within the apex regulatory body called Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) in the Environment Ministry has already given a clean chit to the environmental and health safety of this GM mustard. Following this, the GEAC put up a pre-concluded document with only summaries of biosafety studies done on GM mustard, and gave 30 days for the public to give their feedback on this sanitized document called “Assessment of Food & Environmental Safety” (AFES) of GM mustard, which is purportedly a report by its technical sub-panel which studied the 4000-odd pages of biosafety dossier submitted by the crop developer.
