The Hindu: Chennai: Thursday, July 27, 2017.
Anti-GM
activists question efficacy of such regulation
The Genetic
Engineering Appraisal Committee’s (GEAC) sub-committee has drafted several
recommendations on GM mustard before it approved the crop for commercial
release in May this year. These included a proposal for legal action on farmers
using the glufosinate-based herbicide (Basta) on the crop unless otherwise
approved by the Central Insecticides Board and Registration Committee.
In response
to an RTI query, the GEAC has provided minutes of the sub-committee’s May 11,
2017 meeting. The minutes, accessed by The Hindu, reflect an apprehension that
farmers may use herbicides to kill weeds that grow in crops of
herbicide-tolerant GM Mustard.
Detrimental
to humans
Glufosinate-based
herbicides act as a neurotoxin and have adverse impacts on humans, according to
the U.S. National Institute of Health.
To a query on
how the GEAC proposes to ensure adherence to its recommendations, GEAC
sub-committee member C.R. Babu, also Director of the Centre for Environmental
Management of Degraded Ecosystems, University of Delhi, told The Hindu that the
Ministry of Environment and Forests was contemplating setting up a system to
monitor the planting of GM mustard seeds when commercially released.
Bt cotton
lessons
However,
anti-GM activists question how effective such regulation will be, drawing
attention to the experience with Bt cotton, the country’s first and only
commercially released GM crop. The GEAC had recommended plant refuges wherever
Bt cotton was planted to ensure pests did not develop resistance to the Bt
toxin.
“In the case
of Bt cotton the government’s record of ensuring adherence to recommendations
has been very poor,” said Kavitha Kuruganti, activist and convenor of ASHA
(Alliance for Sustainable & Holistic Agriculture).
On Monday,
the Centre submitted to the Supreme Court that it would file its affidavit on
its preparedness for commercial release of GM Mustard on July 29. The Supreme
Court has asked the government to stay the commercial release of GM mustard
until it does so.
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