INDIA REPORT: EXPERT PANEL ON GM CROPS

Expert panel report on GM crops is anti-science, says industry

Bouquets as well as brickbats greeted the Supreme Court-appointed Technical Expert Committee’s (TEC) report, which recommended withholding of field trials of genetically-modified (GM) crops till the gaps in the regulatory system were addressed.

Incidentally, one of the six members of the TEC — R.S. Paroda — is supposed to have made a direct submission to the Supreme Court, which has not been made public.

Terming the report as regressive and biased, The Association of Biotech Led Enterprises (ABLE) said the TEC recommendation was a troubled treatise that promised to push the country’s agriculture into an archaic age. “The industry believes the TEC report, besides being incomplete, is also anti-science and anti-research and will severely dent the future of country’s farmers besides destroying the domestic private and public sector research…This recommendation, if accepted by the Supreme Court, will put our agricultural research back by decades and will severely hamper progress,” Ram Kaundinya, Chairman, ABLE AG, said in a statement. “This report by four members of TEC can’t be considered complete as R.S Paroda’s submission directly to the Supreme Court is yet to be made public,” N. Seetharama, Executive Director, ABLE AG, said

Reiterating its recommendation made in its interim report, the TEC said there should be a moratorium on field trials for Bt in food crops (those that are directly used for food) intended for commercialisation (not research) until there is more definitive information from sufficient number of studies as to the long term safety of Bt in food crops”.

On the herbicide tolerant (HT) crops, TEC said “HT crops would most likely exert a highly adverse impact over time on sustainable agriculture, rural livelihoods, and environment. The TEC finds them completely unsuitable in the Indian context.”

Also, on the genetic-modification of crops for which India is a centre of origin such as rice, brinjal, mustard etc, the TEC recommended “that release of GM crops for which India is a centre of origin or diversity should not be allowed”.

Welcoming the report, the Coalition for GM Free India has written to the Prime Minister urging that the Government act upon on the recommendations of TEC. These recommendations are science-based and well-reasoned. Therefore, we urge the Government of India to accept the well-reasoned, reasonable and sound recommendations of the TEC and to start overhauling the process of modern biotechnology regulation in India.

“Vested interests should not be allowed to prevail and prevent the acceptance of this report which is based on sound science, justice and the principle of sustainability.

“We look forward to the Union of India accepting these recommendations in the Supreme Court and ensuring the delivery of justice,” the Coalition said.