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New Delhi: Asserting that the Government has very strict guidelines to test and evaluate the agronomic value of the genetically modified (GM) crops so as to protect the interests of the farmers, Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Narendra Singh Tomar told Lok Sabha today that Bt cotton is the only genetically modified crop that has been approved for commercial cultivation in the country. He though informed that the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change had allowed biosafety research field trials of two new transgenic varieties of indigenously developed Bt Brinjal.
The minister said that the approval was given recently by the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC), Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC), for the biosafety research field trials of Bt Brinjal in eight states during 2020-23 “only after taking no-objection certificate (NOC) from states concerned and confirmation of availability of isolated stretch of land for this purpose”.
“These indigenous transgenic varieties of brinjal hybrids – namely Janak and BSS-793, containing Bt Cry1Fa1 gene (Event 142) – have been developed by the National Institute for Plant Biotechnology, (NIPB, erstwhile National Research Centre on Plant Biotechnology, New Delhi), Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR),” Tomar said.
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With regard to Bt Brinjal resistant to brinjal shoot fly, which was developed by M/S Mahyco in collaboration with University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad; Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore and ICAR-Indian Institute of Vegetable Research, Varanasi were approved by Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) in 2009 but due to 10 years moratorium imposed on GM crops by the Technical Expert Committee (TEC) appointed by the Supreme Court of India, no further action on commercialization had been taken.
Meanwhile, it may be recalled that Bt cotton had been approved by the Government for commercial cultivation in 2002, when approval for the commercial release of Bt cotton hybrids/ varieties resistant to cotton bollworm was given. Long term studies were conducted by Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) on the impact of Bt cotton which, according the Minister, did not show any adverse effect on soil, microflora and animal health.
ICAR stated it always promotes the science based innovative technology including research on GM crops. ‘Network Project on Transgenic in Crops’ (presently Network Project on Functional Genomics and Genetic Modification in Crops) was launched by ICAR in 2005 for development of GM crops in case of pigeonpea, chickpea, sorghum, potato, brinjal, tomato and banana for different traits and the material is in different stages of development.
However, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science and Technology, Environment and Forests, in its report on ‘Genetically modified crops and its impact on environment’, submitted to parliament on August 25, 2017, recommended that GM crops should be introduced in the country only after critical scientific evaluation of its benefit and safety, and also recommended restructuring of regulatory framework for unbiased assessment of GM crops.
The regulatory system for GM crops as operative in the Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science and Technology (Review Committee on Genetic Manipulation; RCGM) and Ministry of Environment and Forests (Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee; GEAC) has guidelines to consider the GM crops on case-by-case basis towards testing. The Agriculture Ministry stated that these guidelines addressed all concerns with regard to the safety of GM seeds. Tomar added that GM mustard Dhara Mustard Hybrid 11 (DMH 11) developed by Delhi University was also pending for commercial release as GEAC had advised to generate complete safety assessment data on environmental bio-safety, especially effects on beneficial insect species. “No such request is pending in the matter,” he said.
– globalbihari bureau
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