News Highlight:
The Supreme Court worried over the Effect of GM crops on the livelihood of women farm laborers.
Key Takeaway:
- A Petition challenges environmental clearance given to genetically modified mustard.
- The Court expressed concern about the plight of thousands of women agricultural labourers in rural areas, traditionally engaged in de-weeding, who will be part of the human cost if the government permits the commercial cultivation of herbicide-tolerant crops such as GM mustard in India.
- The environmental release of the hybrid mustard variety was cleared despite warnings from the parliamentary committee and the Supreme Court’s Technical Expert Committee report calling for its ban. Besides, the government had not placed the biosafety dossier on the GM crop in the public domain.
Understanding GM Mustard:
- Genetically modified mustard, after the GEAC approval seems set to be India’s transgenic food crop. DHARA Mustard Hybrid-11(DMH-11) was based on the principle of removing male fertility in one parent and restoring it in the offspring.
- It contains two alien genes (‘barnase’ and ‘barstar’) isolated from a soil bacterium called Bacillus amyloliquefaciens that enable breeding of high-yielding commercial mustard hybrids.
- It has been developed by the Centre for Genetic Manipulation of Crop Plants (CGMCP) at Delhi University
Genetically Modified (GM) Crops:
- About
- GM crops are derived from plants whose genes are artificially modified, usually by inserting genetic material from another organism.
- These crops have increased yield, tolerance to a herbicide, resistance to disease or drought, or to improve its nutritional.
- By introducing an alien gene in the seeds to get the desired effects, the alien gene could be from a plant, an animal or even a soil bacterium by Genetic engineering.
Advantages of GM crops:
- GM crops improve production and raise the farmer’s income.
- Can feed a rapidly increasing population as it shows dramatically increased yields.
- The area required for GM crops is less.
- It reduces the usage of pesticides and insecticides during farming that might be great moves for the betterment of the food supply.
Disadvantages of GM crops:
- The production imposes high risks to the disruption of ecosystem and biodiversity
- Better traits produced from engineering genes can result in favoring one organism and could disrupt the natural process of gene flow.
- The transgenic crops endanger farmers as well as the environment.
- Inadequate Safety Assessments: harmful effects from the GM crops cant be adequately monitored.
- The regulatory regime in India about GM crops has never been assessed thoroughly about the GM risk assessment in Indian conditions.
- It increases the cost of cultivation
- More inclined towards marketization of farming that works on immoral profits.
Legal provision on genetically modified crops in India:
- In India, the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) is the apex body that controls commercial use of GM crops.
- The GEAC had allowed the commercial release of Bt cotton in 2002
- Using unapproved GM variants can attract a jail term of 5 years and a fine of Rs 1 lakh under the Environmental Protection Act,1989.
- For the first time the Central government had exempted certain types of genome-edited crops from the stringent regulations which are applicable on genetically modified or GM crops, paving the way for further R&D on them.
- The Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEFCC) had exempted SDN1 and SDN2 genome edited plants from Rules 7-11 of the Environment Protect Act (EPA) for manufacture, use or import or export and storage of hazardous microorganisms or genetically engineered organisms or cells rules-1989.
- Recently ,the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) issued guidelines easing norms for research into Genetically Modified (GM) crops and circumventing challenges of using foreign genes to change crops profile
- FSSAI issued an order in February 2021, setting the permissible limit for genetically modified organisms (GMO) in imported food crops at 1%.
Way Forward:
ensure that safety protocols are followed strictly, and enforcement must be taken seriously to prevent the spread of illegal GM crops. Environmental impact assessment should be carried out by independent environmentalists
Pic courtesy: The Hindu
Content Source: The Hindu