The Hindu Business Line : Transgenic food crop trials only after SC order

Coimbatore March 27 Commercial release of genetically modified (GM) food crops in the country will have to wait as the mandatory large-scale trials of transgenic food crops have practically come to a halt in the wake of last year's Supreme Court ban. This means that the trials of transgenic maize and rice varieties being developed may take more time to materialise. Bt brinjal, cauliflower and cabbage crops being lined up in that order for multi-locational field trials also face similar fate. Environmental safety involved in these transgenic varieties is yet to be assessed, according to officials from the Department of Biotechnology.

"In view of the SC order barring field trials on GM food crops in October last, fresh trials outside the greenhouse are not conducted now. The next hearing of the case by the court is scheduled for April 16, 2007,'' said Dr K.K. Tripathi, Advisor, Department of Biotechnology.

Talking to presspersons at the sidelines of a regional workshop on `Consultation on safety assessment of GM food crops' held at the Tamilnadu Agricultural University (TNAU) here on Tuesday, Dr Tripathi said India was adequately equipped to assess the implications of GM crops on human and animal food chain as competitively as any developed country.

The reasons for the slow progress in commercial release of GM food crops were the relatively late beginning made on transgenic crops and the burden of meticulous screening required for the safety and environmental issues. The DBT has screened the transgenic food crops in terms of food safety covering the elements of toxicity and allergenic aspects. In the case of Bt maize, the transgenic varieties are to counter the stem-borer pest and weed-resistant.

As for the non-food GM crop, the only Bt cotton variety officially permitted for commercial cultivation across the country is the one expressing the `cry 1Ac' gene. The socio-economic as well as the environmental studies of theBt cotton crop conducted by the Ministry of Environment has highlighted the visibility of positive impact of the new cotton variety in the northern zone. The consultative meet on biosafety assessment of GM food crops jointly held by the DBT, TNAU and Biotech Consortium India Ltd focused on various guidelines and safeguard frameworks available on the research and development of GM/recombinant DNA products and their large-scale field applications under various rules and regulations under the Environmental Protection Act.

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