The Environment Ministry has confirmed that the recent decision of the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee to permit field trials of genetically modified crops such as rice, wheat, maize, castor and cotton has been “put on hold”.
The appraisal committee, the official body to give approval for commercial release and field trials of transgenic crops in the country, had on March 22, permitted field trials of genetically modified crops developed by a host of multinational companies, private Indian seed companies and the public sector research institutions.
Info removed
The details of the appraisal body approvals were even uploaded on the Environment Ministry’s Web site last Tuesday – almost three months after the biotech regulator’s meeting. However, all this information was removed a day later.
The GEAC Web site currently carries no reference to the minutes of the March 22 meeting that had been uploaded earlier.
A top Environment Ministry official told Business Line that the minutes of committee’s March 22 meeting had not been officially approved while terming the appearance of such clearance details in the public domain a “mistake”.
Significantly, the committee’s next meeting was scheduled to be been held on July 11, but it has now been deferred indefinitely, the official said.
The decision to put on hold all approvals – including those granted by the committee – has been taken in view of an ongoing public interest litigation case on the bio-safety of field trials of genetically modified crop – being heard by the Supreme Court.
According to the information that had been uploaded earlier on the Ministry’s Web site, the committee had permitted Bayer Bioscience to conduct trials of GM rice for insect tolerance in States such as Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Odisha and Kerala.
Bayer’s proposal to conduct pollen flow study in cotton to measure the distance pollen containing a herbicide tolerance gene flows was also approved in the GEAC meeting.
The Hyderabad-based Directorate of Oilseeds Research’s proposal seeking extension of validity of trials in castor was approved, while Monsanto’s insect protection and weed management in maize also secured the GEAC clearance. Mayhco and BASF India Limited also received approval by GEAC to carry out trials on GM rice.
Mahyco’s proposal to conduct seven selection trials at more location for experiments in nitrogen use efficiency in cotton and extended trials for weed management in wheat was also approved by GEAC. The Central Institute of Cotton Research, Nagpur’s proposal seeking extension of validity to event selection trials on transgenic cotton for bollworm resistance was also approved by the GEAC.