GMOs and “Unremitting Fraud” in India
December 16, 2015
GMOs and “Unremitting Fraud” in India
by Colin Todhunter
A petition has been filed by activist and campaigner Aruna Rodrigues against three persons of the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC). The GEAC is India’s apex regulatory body. Rodrigues is seeking the initiation of contempt proceedings for wilfully and deliberately disobeying the explicit orders of the Supreme Court (SC) 8th May 2007, 15th February 2007, 8th April 2008 and 12th August 2008 and proceeding with numerous GMO field trials of GM mustard with the aim of commercially introducing to India for the first time herbicide tolerant (HT) food crops.
The case of GM mustard (DMH 11) is critical since on the back of large-scale trials (LSTs), the application for commercialisation was reportedly sent by the crop developer Dr Deepak Pental of the Centre for Genetic Manipulation of Crop Plants to the GEAC in Sept 2015. It is being considered for surreptitious approval for commercialisation, according to newspaper reports.
As LSTs are the final stage of trials before commercialisation and carry a serious risk of contamination, the SC-appointed Technical Expert Committee (TEC) requires that crop biosafety tests are first completed prior to LSTs. The crop must then be signalled as utterly safe before proceeding further. Biosafety studies and risk assessment protocols must be addressed and completed during Biosafety Level I (BRL I) trials. Then the process may move towards the next stage (BRL II). The petition claims that these protocols were not adhered to.
Rodrigues argues that the official regulators have hidden all data about GM mustard from the public and the independent scientific community, against the constitutional provisions and the orders of the SC, and have failed to respond positively to requests for access to such data.
More:
http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/12/16/gmos-and-unremitting-fraud-in-india/
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