No SC ban on ongoing field trials of GM crops, says government

New Delhi, Dec 18 (UNI) Reports from states about burning of GM crops and stoppage of contained field trials under government instruction today prompted the Ministry of Environment and Forests to come with the clarification that the Supreme Court had imposed no restriction on the ongoing field trials of GM crops.

It said the apex court has banned further trials but the trials being conducted with the approval of the Review Committee on Genetic Manipulation (RCGM) and the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) were legal.

The Ministry further stated that before declaring the field trials as illegal, documentary evidence on the approval issued by the RCGM and the status of compliance in respect of physical and biological containment stipulated in the approval order may be verified.

It had received reports regarding burning of GM crops under contained field trials and issuance of instruction by some of the State Governments to their field staff to uproot the contained field trials of GM crops on the grounds that these trials were being conducted despite instructions imposed by the Supreme Court direction of September 22 this year in the Ms Aruna Rodridge vs Union of India case.

It pointed out that the apex court had directed the GEAC to stop granting fresh approvals for field trials. Subsequent to the Court order, the GEAC has not approved any field trials of GM crops, it said.

The Ministry said the following decisions were taken by the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee of the Environment&Forests Ministry at its 72 meeting held recently: The GEAC has approved the import of Phytase Enzyme from China and Finase Enzyme from Germany for use as poultry feed supplement.

The Committee endorsed the action taken by the Ministry to obtain a factual report on the various issues raised by the NGO in the above representation.

The Committee noted with concern that compliance by the Seed companies in respect of submission of information relating to the field trials is not saticfactory.

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