Push for GM mustard disregarding science, the law

Source: The post is based on an article “A push for GM mustard disregarding science, the law” published in The Hindu on 19^th July 2023.

Syllabus: GS 3 – Science & Technology, Agriculture

Relevance: concerns associated with GM crops

News: Environmentalists in the Supreme Court of India are engaged in a battle against Delhi University’s Genetically Modified (GM) Herbicide-Tolerant (HT) mustard.

What are GM crops?

Read Here: What are GM crops?  

What are the arguments against GM crops?

Environmentalists, scientists, politicians, farmers, consumers, and the judiciary, have raised concerns about the safety, efficacy, and necessity of GM food.

The experience with Bt cotton, India’s only approved GM crop, has raised concerns. Long-term research suggests that while Bt cotton initially provided some benefits to farmers, it ultimately increased cultivation costs and risks.

However, two Standing Committees of the Parliament independently and comprehensively examined GM crops and food.

The first one was the Standing Committee on Agriculture in 2012, and another was the Standing Committee on Science and Technology, Environment and Forests in 2017.

The Supreme Court also appointed a Technical Expert Committee (TEC) to study the GM crops.

Must Read: Transgenic Crops in India: Need and Challenges – Explained

What were the observations made by these committees?

The two standing committees unanimously highlighted major weaknesses in the regulatory system and called for utmost caution before releasing GM food.

The Committee on Science and Technology, Environment and Forests made a specific reference to GM mustard, and asked the government to conduct a thorough, independent, and transparent assessment of long-term biosafety, environmental risk and socio-economic impacts.

In 2013, five out of six members of the TEC also identified serious shortcomings in the safety assessment of GM crops.

They found HT crops are “completely unsuitable in the Indian context” and warned of serious harm to the environment, rural livelihoods and sustainable agriculture if they were released.

Therefore, these observations raise concerns for release of any HT crop and emphasize the need for comprehensive regulatory strengthening before approving GM food.

What measures are being taken by the government in promoting GM crops?

Despite the widespread political and technical consensus against HT crops, the Indian government is proceeding with GM mustard in a manner that disregards both science and law.

For instance, it has not placed the full biosafety dossier on GM mustard in the public domain, despite the terms of the Right to Information Act and a declaration to that effect by the Environment Ministry’s Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee.

Even in the recent hearing of the SC, the government has argued that GM mustard should not be considered HT because the objective for developing it was to improve yields.

However, from the science of biotechnology and ecology perspective, there is no doubt that GM mustard is an HT crop.

What lies ahead?

Instead of engaging with the constitutional issues involving public health, environmental protection and agricultural livelihoods, the government is misleading the SC by presenting irrelevant facts in the support of GM crops.

Hence, if the Supreme Court allows GM mustard to go through, it will likely pave the way for the release of other HT crops such as cotton, rice, and maize.