GM mustard sub-committee ridden with conflict of interest, say activists

Conflict of interest in the sub-committee, lack of any health safety expert on the panel, and inadequate data on additional studies on bio-safety are some of the issues raised by an anti-GM body on the government’s recent proposal to clear genetically-modified (GM) mustard.

At a press conference here on Thursday, The Coalition for a GM-Free India alleged that the processes adopted by the government before calling for public comments on the proposal to give the food crop a go-ahead are “hasty.”

The Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) “violated its own decision that the RARM (risk assessment and risk management) and full bio-safety dossier would be reviewed first in the GEAC. GEAC did not discuss the document but is inviting public comments on a ‘proposal on authorisation of environmental release’ of GM mustard,” the coalition said.

The coalition said that the seven-member sub-committee, constituted by the GEAC to look into bio-safety of GM mustard, had initially sought additional bio-safety studies and more analysis, the results of which are not clear from the Assessment of Food and Environmental Safety document shared by the GEAC.

The Coalition also questioned the constitution of the sub-committee, given that it has three members with close links to the GM industry.

The members named are — K Veluthambi, Chair of Sub-Committee and Co-Chair of GEAC who was a GM crop developer; SR Rao, Adviser, DBT, who is on the Golden Rice Humanitarian Board, funded by Syngenta; and B Sesikeran, who is a Board Member of International Life Sciences Institute funded by Bayer, Monsanto and others.

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