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Genetically modified crops bad for health: Scientists

At least 12 crop varieties approved for trials; mustard reaches environmental clearance stage.

Visakhapatnam: As the Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change (MoEF&CC) seeks comments for the commercial release of genetically modified seeds of mustard, agricultural scientists warn of both environmental and health hazards.

Centre for Genetic Manipulation of Crop Plants, Delhi Universi-ty, had developed a tra-nsgenic crop — Mustard DMH-11 — and applied to India’s biotechnology regulator Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) for environmental or commercial release.

MoEF&CC recently sought comments by putting out a 120-page report, ‘Assessment of Food and Environmen-tal Safety of GE Musta-rd,’ on GEAC’s website.

Andhra Pradesh is among five states that allow field trials of GM food crops.
It will be easy for seed firms in Andhra Pra-desh to conduct tests and release seeds in the market. Other states that allow these tests are Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, and Maharashtra.

GEAC had approved at least 12 GM crop varieties for trials and mustard among them had reached the stage of en-vironmental clearance. Once the environmental release is clea-red, seed companies can conduct tests before releasing them in the market.

Agriculture scientists say GM mustard variety is Herbicide-Tolerant (HT) and it will lead to indiscriminate use of herbicides for better yield. The harmful herbicide residue may be consumed by humans, leading to serious health hazards like cancers.

They also point out that indiscriminate use of herbicides will lead to super-weeds which can't be destroyed by any chemical and render the field uncultivable. While BT cotton, a commercial crop, is being used in India, a moratorium has been put on efforts to introduce genetically modified brinjal.

“When GM brinjal issue came up the then government came out in the open and held public consultations. When the government was not convinced about safety, it put a moratorium on GM Brinjal in 2009. But, in the case of GM mustard no proper information is available in the public domain,” said agricultu-re scientist at Centre for Sustainable Agriculture (CSA), Dr G.V. Ramanj-aneyulu.

There is also the argument that introduction of genetically modified mustard would increase its production thereby reducing rapeseed or mustard oil imports which save foreign exchange.

“The current set of three mustard GMOs are all Herbicide-Tolerant (HT) crops. But the GMO application does not declare them so, or test them in the context of HT crops. The risk assessment has not taken into account this feature or the consequent increased use of herbicides, or any combined effects. The rapid emergence of super-weeds that cannot be killed by herbicides due to extensive use of herbicide tolerant GM crops is well-documented. So is the impact on beneficial non-target organisms like bees and butterflies and soil microbes. Use of herbicide-tolerant crops results in more herbicide use, higher toxic residues in food, prevention of mixed cropping and damage to crops in neighbouring farms,” said, an IIT graduate, Kiran Vissa, part of a national alliance called Alliance for Sustainable and Holistic Agriculture (ASHA), which is called Rythu Swarajya Vedika, in Telangana and AP.

He added that introducing an HT GM crop that too without risk assessment, will pave the way for plundering by multinational companies which are waiting to introduce HT crops, to make money on both seeds and chemicals.

GEAC warned against lack of transparency
India’s biotechnology regulator, the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC), was warned by the Central Information Commission (CIC) as it did not furnish information sought on the biosafety dossier of GM mustard. The CIC issued show cause notices to the public information officers of the regulator.

Coalition for GM-Free India’s national convener Kavitha Kuruganti wants GEAC share biosafety data related to transgenic mustard hybrid DMH 11 as well as the agenda of meetings of the regulator.

“The same has not been complied with, more than 50 days have passed. The regulators are dilly­dallying on a fairly straightforward matter. The Commission finds no reason to extend the time for another 90 days GEAC to give information which they should disclose on their own under Section 4(1)(b) of RTI Act. The information sought is of high public importance, concerning public health,” said the order issued on Aug 12 by Information Commissioner, M. Sridhar Acharyulu.

The information commissioner further observed that public authority is attempting to keep vital information out of public discussion. “It amounts to the prevention of constitutionally guaranteed freedom of speech and expression of the appellant, who is interested in discussing the pros and cons of GMO-related issues of GM Mustard, which if permitted would cause serious impact on the public health of consumers in large scale,” he said.

( Source : Deccan Chronicle. )
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