Brinjal, Bt cotton, eight other GM crops awarded field trials

New Delhi, Aug 17 (UNI) Ten GM crops including Brinjal and Bt cotton have been awarded field trials with a uniform isolation distance of 50 to 1000 metres, the Ministry of Environment and Forests said here today.

The recently concluded 79th meeting of Genetically Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) accepted the recommendations of the sub-committee for Multi Location Research Trials (MLRT) considering the pattern of pollinating agents, nature of pollination and additional bio-safety measures.

Scientifically, a uniform isolation distance is not tenable as the nature of the pollen flow and levels of contamination depends on the biology of the crop and the host environment in which it is being cultivated. Hence each crop needs unique isolation distance.

Along with this, additional bio-safety measures have been prescribed case to case basis. The combination of physical and biological containment measures are adequate to maintain the genetic purity at the highest possible levels, the committee believes.

The much awaited Brinjal will have MLRT now with additional bio-safety measure of 300 metre distance between two acres of trials. Brinjal is a self pollinated crop and its pollinating crop and its pollinating agents are insects.

Permission has been accorded to conduct MLRT of four transgenic Bt Brinjal, namely Co2-Bt, MDU1_Bt, KKM1-Bt and PLR1-Bt containg cry1Ac gene(EE1 event ) at five locations.

They are Horticultural College and Research Institute- each at Coimbatore and Peryakilam, Agricultural College and Research Institute each at Madurai and Killikulam and Vegetable Research Station at Palur.

These trials will be conducted during June-September this year and January-April next year. They will help in evaluating their Agronomic performances and efficacy in controlling fruit and shoot borer and the effect of beneficial insects by Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TANU), Coimbatore.

MLRT for New Events will not be allowed to conduct in farmers' fields. They will be conducted minimum at one location and maximum at two locations in each state.

RCGM made it mandatory to undertake these and strip trials by companies/institutions either in their own premises, research farms, long lease lands or at the State Agriculture Universities (SAU) /Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) institutions.

MLRT of Bt-cotton expressing approved genes/events, Bt cotton hybrids, transgenic cotton hybrids and others have been approved.

UNI