Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar’s statement that no “government decision” has been taken on allowing field trials of 15 genetically modified (GM) crops as recommended by the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) is not a good augury. The GEAC is a statutory body constituted under the Environment Protection Act to approve commercial cultivation and field trials of crops incorporating genes from other species using recombinant DNA technology. Javadekar’s counterpart in the previous UPA regime, Jairam Ramesh, had set a bad precedent by overruling the official biotech regulator and unilaterally ordering a ‘moratorium’ on commercialisation of Bt brinjal. The damage was partly undone by the UPA’s outgoing environment minister Veerappa Moily. In February, he cleared field trials in GM cotton, maize, rice and castor lines — for which the GEAC had given the go-ahead nearly a year ago — ahead of the current kharif planting season. By putting on hold GEAC’s nod for field trials in mustard, chickpea, and other transgenics during the ensuing rabi season, Javadekar appears to have turned the clock back.

If Javadekar’s move has been due to pressure from elements within the Sangh Parivar — whose opposition to GM crops is ideological rather than scientific — it is most unfortunate. Prime Minister Narendra Modi must know that Bt cotton has enabled Gujarat to almost quadruple its production since 2002. The fact that over 90 per cent of India’s cotton area is now under Bt hybrids is a clear indication of the technology’s acceptance among farmers; nobody forced them to plant these. Equally dubious is the distinction being made between ‘food’ and ‘non-food’ crops. Cotton yields not only fibre, but even oil used for frying and de-oiled cake fed to cattle. Despite ingesting this — either directly as oil or indirectly through milk — there is no evidence to suggest that humans have come to harm.

While one can understand adopting the precautionary principle when it comes to the commercial release of transgenics — hence the insistence on pollen flow and scientific feeding studies — extending this to even field trials in isolated one-acre plots is nothing short of ridiculous. If scientists cannot test the performance of candidate plants in actual field conditions, it effectively amounts to declaring a moratorium on GM research itself. The time has come for Modi to step in and stop this sabotage that will ultimately harm the interests of not just farmers, but also consumers in a country with ever-growing food, feed and fibre requirements. We badly need today an independent biotech regulator empowered by Parliament that will grant approvals for field trials and commercialisation of GM products on transparent scientific principles, as opposed to ideological considerations and ministerial whimsy. India cannot afford to say no to a technology whose beneficiaries far outnumber its vocal opponents.

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