SC starts hearing pleas challenging commercial release of GM mustard

The Supreme Court on Tuesday said it will hear at length Public Interest Litigations (PILs) challenging the Environment Ministry's decision to approve the commercial cultivation of genetically modified (GM) mustard.

This is the first time that a GM food crop is set to be commercially cultivated.

The bench of Justices BV Nagarathna and Sanjay Karol asked the petitioners how much time they would take to argue the matter.

Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for petitioner Aruna Rodrigues, started with a brief explanation about genetically modified crops. “In India, the only genetically modified crop which is allowed is BT cotton,” he said.

“Brinjal also?” Justice Nagarathna asked.

“Attempted to be brought, but was prohibited… When a foreign gene is introduced, it starts creating protein which may have all kinds of unintended consequences other than the trait for which it was used... toxicity to consumers, allergies, etc. The issue of regulation and biosafety of GM organisms has become a major issue around the world,” he said.

Bhushan argued that the Technical Expert Committee held that the whole regulatory system concerning GM organisms in India is in complete disarray and needs to be set right, including developing expertise to conduct many tests that are not being conducted, such as chronic and long-term toxicity studies. He said there aren't enough labs to conduct these studies and tests.

“Which crop do you seek to protect?” the court asked.

“In this case, the mustard plant. They have said they will engineer a herbicide-tolerant gene into it. The Government says that the reason is not to produce herbicide-tolerant crops but to produce new hybrids. That argument is completely illogical, I'll show ... The expert committee has completely advised against introducing herbicide-tolerant crops in India. We are saying you follow the recommendations of the expert committee,” Bhushan said.

Bhushan then told Justice Karol that the Union had not accepted the committee's recommendations.

The arguments will continue. The Supreme Court had previously directed for maintaining the status quo on the decision of the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) allowing the environmental release of genetically modified mustard for seed production and testing.

On October 25, 2022, the GEAC under the Union environment ministry approved the environmental release of transgenic mustard hybrid DMH-11 and the parental lines containing barnase, barstar, and bar genes so they can be used for developing new hybrids.

The apex court is hearing separate pleas by activist Aruna Rodrigues and NGO Gene Campaign. They are seeking a moratorium on the release of any genetically modified organisms (GMOs) until there is a comprehensive, transparent, and rigorous bio-safety protocol in the public domain, conducted by independent expert bodies.