GM Mustard: SC reserves order on pleas seeking moratorium on release of GMOs into environment

The Supreme Court on Thursday reserved its order on a pleas seeking moratorium on release of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) into the environment.

A bench of Justices BV Nagarathna and Sanjay Karol heard submissions from Attorney General R Venkataramani, Solicior General Tushar Mehta and advocates Prashant Bhushan and senior advocate Sanjay Parikh.

The top court directed the parties to file written submissions by January 22.

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Observing that the issue of genetically modified crops is very technical and scientific, the top court on Wednesday had said it will decide a plea on environmental release of GM mustard on the basis of what is good for the country,.

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The apex court had earlier questioned the Centre about why reports of the court-appointed Technical Experts Committee (TEC) on biosafety of genetically modified (GM) crops were not looked into by the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC).

It asked Attorney General R Venkataramani, appearing for the Centre, whether the GEAC or a sub-committee of experts ever considered the reports filed by TEC before the October 25, 2022 decision to approve the environmental release of transgenic mustard hybrid DMH-11.

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The attorney general had said being a statutory body, the GEAC is not supposed to go into these reports but has considered every relevant scientific finding before giving the go-ahead for the environmental release.

The top court is hearing separate pleas by activist Aruna Rodrigues and NGO ‘Gene Campaign’ seeking a moratorium on the release of any genetically modified organisms (GMOs) into the environment pending a comprehensive, transparent and rigorous biosafety protocol in public domain conducted by independent expert bodies. 

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