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GM Mustard
Context:
The Supreme Court pronounced a split verdict on the validity of the Centre’s 2022 decision granting conditional approval for environmental release of genetically modified (GM) mustard crops.
More in news:
About Other GM crops
- Bt Cotton is the only GM crop approved for commercial cultivation in India.
- Bt Brinjal – In Spite of GEAC approval in 2009 for the commercial release , due to widespread public opposition an indefinite moratorium is in place and thus its commercial cultivation is not permitted in India.
- The Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety to the Convention on Biological Diversity is an international agreement which aims to ensure the safe handling, transport and use of living modified organisms (LMOs).
- The court in Gene Campaign vs Union of India and Others(2024) was dealing with a Public Interest Litigations (PILs) challenging the Union Government’s decision to commercially cultivate and release genetically modified mustard into the environment.
- The Bench asked the Centre to formulate a national policy with regard to GM crops in consultation with all stakeholders.
- The case would now be referred to a three-judge Bench to be constituted by the Chief Justice of India.
About GEAC
- A statutory body under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and regulator of genetically modified organisms in the country
- As per Rules, 1989, it is responsible for appraisal of activities involving large scale use of hazardous microorganisms and recombinants in research and industrial production from the environmental angle.
- The committee is also responsible for appraisal of proposals relating to release of genetically engineered (GE) organisms and products into the environment including experimental field trials.
- Presently, it has 24 members and meets every month to review the applications in the areas indicated above.
- Chairman– Special Secretary/Additional Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC); Co-Chairman – Representative of Department of Biotechnology.
About GM mustard (DMH-11):
- DMH-11 was created by a team of scientists from Delhi University’s Centre for
- Genetic Manipulation of Crop Plants (CGMCP) with assistance from the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) and the Department of Biotechnology.
- The transgenic hybrid is developed by hybridising an Indian mustard variety called Varuna with the east European ‘EH-2’.
- The DMH-11 has been developed using the genetic male sterility (GMS) technique, especially the ‘barstar-barnase’ system, to make herbicide resistant.
- On the recommendation of the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC)— the environmental release of transgenic mustard hybrid DMH-11, a variety of GM mustard was undertaken.This is the first time a transgenic food crop is planned to be cultivated in India.
