September 16, 2016 12:00 AM

Activists opposing genetically-modified crops claimed on Thursday that a Union government panel had initially raised "serious questions" about GM-mustard under appraisal for cultivation, but labelled it as safe for human and animal consumption without receiving adequate answers.

The Coalition for a GM-Free India has claimed that documents made public by the Union environment ministry suggest that a subcommittee constituted by the ministry's regulatory panel on GM products had raised serious questions, but turned away meekly without any scientific or satisfactory answers.

September 16, 2016 12:00 AM

Jaipur: While the Genetic engineering appraisal committee ( GEAC) has invited comments from the public for the proposal on authorisation of environmental release of genetically engineered mustard i.e the GM mustard, nothing visible is being observed at the state level at this point in time.

The ministry of environment and forest under whom the GEAC comes has been working on it and received a proposal from University of Delhi. The Center for Genetic Manipulation of Crop Plants (CGMCP), University of Delhi South Campus, New Delhi had applied for the approval of environmental release of Genetically Engineered mustard (Brassica juncea) hybrid DMH-11 and use of parental vents (Varuna bn3.6 and EH-2 modbs 2.99) for the development of new generation hybrids to the GEAC in the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MOEF&CC), Government of India.

September 15, 2016 11:38 PM

नई दिल्ली: सरकार अगर अपने रुख पर कायम रही तो हमारे खेतों में जल्दी ही सरसों की ऐसी फसल उगाई जाएगी जिसमें जीएम यानी जैनेटिकली मॉडिफाइड बीजों का इस्तेमाल होगा. वैज्ञानिकों का कहना है कि ऐसी फसल की पैदावार अधिक होगी और यह कृषि क्षेत्र में क्रांति आने जैसा होगा. लेकिन जीएम सरसों को लेकर विवाद बना हुआ है और दिल्ली में आज फिर सामाजिक कार्यकर्ताओं ने कुछ सवाल उठाए. मिसाल के तौर पर यह कि अभी तक साफ नहीं हुआ है कि इस तरह से उगाई गई फसल का हमारी सेहत पर कोई गलत असर नहीं पड़ेगा और पर्यावरण और जैव विविधता पर कोई कुप्रभाव नहीं होगा.

जीएम सरसों की इस किस्म को दिल्ली विश्वविद्यालय के जैव विज्ञानियों की टीम ने तैयार किया है. इसे धारा मस्टर्ड हाइब्रीड -11 या डीएमएच -11 कहा जाता है. टीम के मुखिया डॉ दीपक पेंटल का कहना है कि जीएम सरसों पूरी तरह से सुरक्षित है और पर्यावरण के लिए कतई नुकसानदेह नहीं है. एनडीटीवी के कार्यक्रम वॉक द टॉक में डॉ पेंटल ने कहा कि हमने इस किस्म को तैयार करने में तीस साल लगाए हैं और इसमें कोई खतरा नहीं है. डॉ पेंटल ने कहा, "अगर आप डीएनए में प्रोटीन इंजेक्ट करते समय इस बात का ध्यान रखें कि वह नुकसानदेह नहीं है तो किसी तरह का कोई खतरा नहीं है. यकीन मानिए आज टेक्नोलॉजी काफी विकसित हो चुकी है और यह जानना बिल्कुल मुमकिन है कि जो प्रोटीन आप डाल रहे हैं वह नुकसान नहीं करेगा."

September 15, 2016 08:35 PM

विवादों के बीच जीएम सरसों को खेतों में उगाने के लिए अगले महीने हरी झंडी मिल सकती है. सरकार कह रही है कि यह सुरक्षित है. दूसरी तरफ विरोधियों ने अप्रूवल कमेटी के सदस्यों पर सवाल उठाए हैं.

September 15, 2016 07:06 PM

NIHAR GOKHALE: India's environment ministry is considering approving the cultivation of Genetically Modified or GM Mustard, which was developed by Delhi University.

But the ministry's committee responsible for evaluating the GM crop's biosafety has taken a U-turn on safety questions raised by its own members just a few months ago, anti-GM activists allege.

September 15, 2016 02:27 PM

P.C. Kesavan, member of SC’s Technical Expert Committee, said that giving less time to analyse the data will amount to ‘fooling the people’

If GM mustard gets the green light from the environment ministry’s GEAC, it will become the first transgenic food crop to be commercially cultivated in India.

New Delhi: Controversy doesn’t seem to be ending for genetically modified (GM) mustard. Even as environmentalists continue to oppose it, a member of the Supreme Court’s expert committee that submitted a report on transgenic crops has now written to India’s nodal regulator for transgenic crops against making public only incomplete safety data related to field trials of GM mustard.

P.C. Kesavan, a geneticist and radiobiologist who is a member of the apex court’s Technical Expert Committee (TEC) that submitted a report to the apex court on GM crops, also said that giving less time to analyse the data will amount to “fooling the people”.

September 15, 2016 05:01 AM

PTI | NEW DELHI: An anti-GM group today alleged that sub committee constituted by the country's biotech regulator GEAC to examine the biosafety data on GM mustard, did not have any health expert and three of its members have conflict of interest.

Coalition for a GM-Free India questioned whether the risk assessment report given by the sub committee, which has claimed that the hybrid does not not pose any risk to biodiversity or agro-ecosystem, was even "reliable and scientific" as it had no health experts in it.

September 15, 2016 12:00 AM

New Delhi: Activists opposing genetically-modified (GM) crops claimed today that a Union government panel had raised "serious questions" about GM-mustard under appraisal for cultivation, but labelled it as safe for human and animal consumption without receiving adequate answers.

The Coalition for a GM-free India has claimed that documents made public by the Union environment ministry suggest that a subcommittee constituted by the ministry's regulatory panel on GM products had raised serious questions then turned away meekly without any scientific or satisfactory answers.

September 15, 2016 12:00 AM

NEW DELHI: Conflict of interest in the sub-committee, lack of any health safety expert on the panel, and inadequate data on additional studies on bio-safety are some of the issues raised by an anti-GM body on the government’s recent proposal to clear genetically-modified (GM) mustard.

At a press conference here on Thursday, The Coalition for a GM-Free India alleged that the processes adopted by the government before calling for public comments on the proposal to give the food crop a go-ahead are “hasty.”

September 14, 2016 11:02 PM

लेखक: के.सी. त्यागी।।

केंद्र सरकार द्वारा जनेटिकली मोड‍िफाइड बीजों यानी जीएम फसलों के प्रयोग के संकेत से किसान व पर्यावरण संरक्षण संगठन चिंतित हैं। उनमें से कुछ ने विरोध प्रदर्शन भी शुरू कर दिए हैं। वन एवं पर्यावरण मंत्रालय ने हाल ही में आनुवंशिक रूप से परिवर्धित यानी जीएम सरसों से जुड़ी टेक्निकल कमिटी की रिपोर्ट को सार्वजनिक किया है।

मंत्रालय के अनुसार जनेटिक इंजिनियरिंग अप्रूवल कमिटी (जीईएसी) की उप-समिति द्वारा जीएम सरसों की किस्म ‘डीएमएच-11’ के जैव विविधता और कृषि पारिस्थितिकी पर पड़ने वाले प्रभावों का अध्ययन कर रिपोर्ट जीईएसी को सौंपी जा चुकी है। रिपोर्ट में दावा किया गया है कि इससे जैव विविधता और पर्यावरण को किसी प्रकार का खतरा नहीं है। मतलब, सरकार जीएम सरसों को पर्यावरणीय मंजूरी देने का मन बना चुकी है। ऐसे में सरकार द्वारा विभिन्‍न पक्षों से 5 अक्टूबर तक मांगी गई जीएम संबंधी टिप्पणियां महज औपचारिकता हैं। वास्तविकता यही है कि मौजूदा केंद्र सरकार जीएम फसलों के उपयोग की पक्षधर है और इन्हें खेतों तक पहुंचाने के लिए तरह-तरह के हथकंडे अपना रही है।

September 14, 2016 03:43 AM

Environment ministry’s genetic engineering panel the says states be given a maximum of 90 days to respond to applications for conducting confined field trials

New Delhi: Notwithstanding the heated debate on genetically modified (GM) crops, the Union government is looking to dilute provisions that require applicants to seek no-objection certificates (NOCs) from states for conducting field trials.

The environment ministry’s genetic engineering approval committee (GEAC), the nodal regulator for GM crops, has recommended that states be given a maximum of 90 days to respond to applications for conducting confined field trials, after which their nod should be deemed as given.

September 13, 2016 03:18 AM

Former vice chancellor of Delhi University and geneticist Deepak Kumar Pental, who spearheaded the effort to develop transgenic mustard called DMH-11 that contains three genes sourced from soil bacterium, confirmed to The Hindu that one of the DMH-11 genes, called the bar gene, made the plant resistant to a herbicide (or weed killer) brand-named Basta, a product sold by multinational company Bayer Cropscience.

If cleared by the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee, a regulator that reports to the Ministry of Environment and Forests — it will be the first time a herbicide tolerant crop would be cleared for commercial use in India.

September 13, 2016 02:23 AM

Madabhushi Sridhar | THE HANS INDIA, Information regarding genetically modified (GM) mustard shall be shared with consumers. Kavita Kuruganti sought for the agenda and minutes of Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC). CIC directed it to disclose. She approached the CIC against non-implementation of direction of disclosure, saying that the directions of CIC were not complied with, more than 50 days later. The regulators are just dilly-dallying.

Their website shows that they do not do this. Despite assurances in the CIC hearing and CIC Orders, their website clearly shows that the latest meeting agenda of June 20 was not put up nor were full minutes of other meetings. In the case of bio-safety data being sought, the resolution of the issue with the crop developer should have been over by now and all data should have been shared in the public domain.

September 12, 2016 06:45 AM

NIKHIL M GHANEKAR, The Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee's move comes in the wake of several state governments refusing to allow field trials of GM crops even after they were cleared by the union environment ministry.

In a controversial move that is likely to face opposition from state governments, the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) of union environment ministry has decided that it will give state governments only 90 days to grant their consent for confined field trials of genetically modified crops, failing which the ministry will consider it approved.

The GEAC is the apex body mandated with regulating the use of genetically modified organisms, including GM food crops. GEAC had decided back in 2011 that all applicants would be required to obtain an NOC from state governments in the first instance before issuance of approve letter for conduct of field trials.

September 12, 2016 12:00 AM

Inika Charles, The Central Information Commission (CIC) directed the Environment Ministry to release all data relating to the bio-safety of GM Mustard by an order in April following a RTI application filed by Ms. Kavitha Kuruganti (the ‘Appellant’). The application sought information regarding the field trials of GM Mustard, which the Ministry refused to disclose on grounds of confidentiality.

The Ministry is yet to comply with the order in question, but on Tuesday released a safety assessment report stating that GM Mustard technology was found to be safe for human and animal consumption, and didn’t pose any threats to biodiversity. The report, though comprehensive in its 133 pages is unlikely to satisfy activists who demand that the raw data be released. The report did however raise a cautionary note calling for more studies on whether GM Mustard would harm honey bees and honey production in mustard growing areas, as well as call for the monitoring of insects and other organisms near mustard fields. The Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) has additionally stated that it will only take a final decision on the commercialisation after it receives comments from stakeholders and the general public by the 5th of October, 2016.