GM mustard may take 2 yrs to reach farms

NEW DELHI: The permission for commercial cultivation of indigenously developed genetically modified (GM) mustard by India’s biotech regulator on October 18 is final, an official aware of the matter said on Thursday, requesting anonymity.

The plant’s developers don’t require any additional go-ahead to grow the country’s first transgenic food crop but they will have to comply with a host of procedural requirements and carry out scientific studies during commercial cultivation within two years, the official said.

The state-run Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) is likely to hold its first media briefing on GM mustard on Monday in which it is likely to explain the government’s decision to approve the product, the official said.

ICAR’s protocols governing GM crops will now kick in, as specified in the regulator’s approval.

“It will take about two years for GM mustard seeds to be made available to farmers to grow. There are processes and regulatory compliance requirements that we will have to be followed,” said Deepak Pental, a Delhi University professor and the main scientist behind GM mustard, technically called DMH 11.

One of the possible first tasks for the developers is to apply for a fresh patent because the original intellectual property rights “may have to be renewed” because the product’s approval came well after a decade since it was developed, Pental said.

GEAC’s approval to GM mustard came after an expert committee did not order any further tests on the lab-altered plant, as sought by groups opposed to GM technologies, who alleged safety issues in the product.

The panel was formed to scrutinise objections raised by groups opposed to GM technologies, after an initial go-ahead for GM mustard was halted in 2017 following objections from opponents of GM crops. The developer of the technology has been asked to conduct scientific studies on any effect on pollinators, such as bees. A post release monitoring committee would be constituted by GEAC, which will visit fields where the plant is grown at least once during each season and submit reports to GEAC on matters of compliance.

GEAC’s approval clears the path for commercial seed production of GM mustard and use of the technology to further produce more GM-based hybrid varieties. However, before commercial production of seeds can take place, farm companies wishing to replicate the technology will have to buy it, said Vijay Mohan Kelkar of Maharashtra-based Sona Seeds Pvt Ltd.

Backed by the Centre for Genetic Manipulation of Crop Plants of Delhi University and the National Dairy Development Board and partly funded by the department of biotechnology, GM mustard allows for the hybridisation of a plant that otherwise selfpollinates, making hybrids next to impossible. That is at heart of GM mustard’s technology.

An initial go-ahead for GM mustard was halted in 2017.