Highlighting the possible disastrous consequences of field trials of Genetically Modified (GM) crops, an expert committee has recommended to the Centre to implement a 10-year moratorium on such trials on Bt. Transgenics in all food crops.

In its interim report submitted to the Supreme Court, the Technical Expert Committee (TEC) said: “Based on current overall status of food safety evaluation of Bt. Transgenics, including the data on Bt. Cotton and Bt. Brinjal examined by the TEC, and in accordance with the precautionary principle, the TEC recommends a 10 year moratorium on field trials of Bt. Transgenics in all food crops. Another factor is the possibility of contamination of non-GM food by GM food.”

The court was to hear the interim findings of a Technical Expert Committee appointed by it

The TEC was appointed to address certain issues related to agricultural biotechnology in India

Perceiving a grim picture, scientists at the weekend referred to the recommendations of the Technical Expert Committee (TEC) appointed by the Supreme Court as taking the country in the opposite direction, halting the progress required to cater to the growing needs of the country. The TEC was appointed to address certain issues related to agricultural biotechnology in India

The prime minister's scientific advisory council had advocated introduction of GM crops in India, but under strict regulatory mechanism

Even as the Supreme Court is set to hear the petition to ban testing of genetically modified (GM) crops on October 29, the apex body that is supposed to regulate GM crops in the country, the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC), has been in limbo since April when it last met. The GEAC was last reconstituted in June 2009 for three years. Since its tenure ended in June, the committee has neither been reconstituted nor its tenure extended. According to senior scientists, this has severely harmed the progress made in field testing and research of new crop varieties.

Almost three years after a genetically-engineered variety of brinjal (Bt brinjal) was put on indefinite hold — putting a question mark on the fate of genetically-modified crops in India — the gover

Several farmers’ leaders in Andhra Pradesh have asked the State Government not to allow GM (genetically modified) crop trials.

A PIPE DREAM SC panel pushes for a 10-year moratorium on open field trials

A 10-year blanket ban on field trials of genetically modified (termed Bt) crops, proposed by an expert committee set up by the Supreme Court, has set off alarm bells, especially in the cotton sector.

A senior government official said it would be like gifting a 10-year monopoly on Bt cotton to a single company, Monsanto, and clipping the wings of upcoming competitors, such as Bayer, Dow, DuPont and Syngenta, and some public sector companies.

A panel of scientists set up on the orders of the Supreme Court has recommended a 10-year moratorium on field trials of all genetically modified or Bt food crops.

Panel calls for 10-year moratorium on field trials of Bt food crops

Citing India’s obligations under the Convention on Biological Diversity — whose global conference is now underway here — a Supreme Court-appointed panel has recommended a ban on genetically modified (GM) field trials until the regulatory system is completely overhauled. It also called for a ten-year moratorium on field trials of Bt food crops (which are modified with the Bacillus thuringiensis gene, such as the proposed Bt Brinjal), and a complete ban on field trials of transgenics in crops which originate in India.