On October 25, Deepak Pental’s application for environmental release of a transgenic mustard hybrid, which he developed in 2002, was approved by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC).
This means that the genetically modified (GM) mustard, named Dhara Mustard Hybrid (DMH-11), can be grown in open fields for trials, demonstrations and for seeds — before it is approved for commercial cultivation.
On October 31, Trilochan Mohapatra (president of NASS, and RS Paroda, chairperson of TASS) told the media that the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) would conduct the field trials in the next 10-15 days in Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh at 100 locations to verify the yield.
On November 2 a group of farmers, researchers and activists, assembled under the Coalition for a GM-Free India, and moved the Supreme Court after which ICAR decided to put the field trial on hold.
Why is the government pushing for GM Mustard?
Mustard contributes 40% of total edible oils production in India. By 2025-26 India will need 34 million tonnes of edible oils, which will put a significant pressure on the country’s foreign exchange reserves.
Today mustard is grown in 8 million hectares, with 1-1.3 tonnes yield per hectare. The government claims that transgenic seeds could potentially raise the yields to 3-3.5 tonnes per hectare while being resistant to pests that cause white rust.
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The DMH-11 plant is self-pollinating. This means that genetic manipulation prevents problems faced in cross breeding and directly changes the genetic makeup of a plant.
However, DMH-11 has been opposed by the Coalition for a GM-Free Indiabecause of the introduction of foreign genetic materials in the crop.
What is the issue with genetic modification?
According to Kavitha Kuruganti the government agencies have ignored the effect of GM mustard on honeybees and other pollinators and have bypassed bio-safety protocols.
Earlier, farmers used to rely on sunflower, cotton, sorghum (jowar), pearl millet (bajra), corn, sesame, pigeon pea (tur) and chana crops for rearing honeybees and used to harvest honey for eight months in a year.
Farmers claim that GM mustard will cause further drop in honey production. When Bt Cotton was introduced, during the initial years, honey was harvested twice in a season. Over the years, the flowers stopped yielding nectar.
Mustard honey crystallizes quickly and makes exporting to the US and EU feasible. But these countries also demand GM-free certification.
Almost half of the 150,000 tonnes of honey produced in India is exported under non-GMO verification programmes. The future of apiculture export will be threatened if GM mustard receives commercial approval, according to honey exporters.
What are scientists fearing?
Botanists say that pests and insects may grow resistant to the transgenic crop after a decade or so, triggering the need for newer versions of the seeds.
Additionally, honeybees could transfer the genes of GM mustard to other plants which may lead to horizontal and undesirable gene transfer among plants causing the growth of unwanted and invasive weeds.
Apart from White Rust, the mustard crop is also prone to other diseases. On October 31, the government claimed that GM mustard is not released as a herbicide tolerant crop. But the herbicide under question, glufosanite ammonium will be sprayed on the final hybrid seed formed .The difference between a transgenic or GM and a hybrid plant is that while the former contains external DNA the latter only contains DNA from both parents via fertilization. DMH-11 is a transgenic hybrid crop. When glufosanite ammonium is sprayed, if the progeny is GM and hybrid, it will survive. However, if the hybrid is not successfully formed, the seed will die due to the herbicides. Either way, this dangerous herbicide will enter the food system and its health impacts on human health and the natural ecosystem are not yet fully deciphered.
There are also no long-term studies in Indian context on the metabolic impact of barstar and barnase genes on the human and animal body.
Do we really need GM Mustard in India?
The yield of any crop depends on its genotype, environment and management, with the latter playing around 80 per cent of the role. According to ICAR, DMH-11 will have an average yield advantage of 28% over its parent, Varuna.
Comparing GM mustard with other high yielding varieties will reveal its poor performance.
In 2020, bio-safety research field trials of two transgenic varieties of indigenously developed Bt brinjal were allowed by 2023 in eight states. In September 2022, the government cleared a proposal to conduct confined field trials of herbicide-tolerant GM cotton and maize seeds at two agricultural sciences universities in Karnataka.
we are yet to see concrete measures taken to establish the long-term safety and profitability of transgenic varieties.
34 Comments
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First comment 😁
Very pessimistic view, India needs high productivity, with due caution ofc, Indians not want to go a hard way for better future, and if govt and Resercher are doing their part, same old thing gather a crowd of stakeholders to protest and when a good effort is thwarted , dissipate like whiff and head back to old( not very old jst GR ways) exploitating ways
Views me video
Good documentary 👏👏
Thanks for the information. Explained to the point. Keep up the great work.
Beware, the whole GMO story is a giant scam to make farmers dependent from seed suppliers!
Don't publish one side picture…also show what supporter of gm mustard say
This is very much relevant in indian context. As in today's time a farmer depending on only one production factor can be loss inducing. Crops along with bee keeping and or mixed cropping of all kinds is necessary. Hence the protection of the overall agricultural system is necessary.
Paani Foundation of Amir khan and kiran rao in Maharashtra conducting Farmers Cup
in this competition they are promoting group farming, they are giving training to farmers groups to go for organic farming using SOP's
instead of fertilisers and pesticides they are using indigenous methods and to everyone's surprise the yield is more than what they were getting earlier, also top labs like TUV Nord tested their produce and certified them chemical free….
Yes it is good to try out new things , trials will let us know results for these. India does need better yielding GM seeds , the world is already using them & reaping gains. Questioning is good but don't be a spoiler or naysayer.
NGOs and activists are biggest threats to our development and growth!!!! Down to earth you are also included for such stupid biases
Or we can change our habits and start using less mustard while including other variety of oils to even the pressure on crops and land.
What a stupid claim that gene from one plant can spread to another plant species through cross pollination
Yes India needs GM mustard, because if the choice is between pest resistant mustard and ordinary breed mustard which requirs heavy pesticide use then GM mustard is better. i prefer organic food but organic mustard will not be sufficient to feed huge population, vast quantities of pesticides are needed which destroy ecosystems and beneficial insects and animals. India is experiencing biodiversity loss due to agricultural runoff which contains heavy pesticides which is necessary to produce the non pest resistant crops…
GM is very bad for humans and animals
Nice explanation.
India doesn't need gm seeds instead needs increase in area under cultivation and good soil quality along with better management of the crop. The govt needs to educate the farmers and provide subsidy to ensure sustainability of natural farming. If we try to mess with the very genetics of the plant, we aren't heading to good direction and we are risking the future of upcoming generations
Is it even possible to maintain purity of crops in a world that is increasingly witnessing food security issues? Elsewhere people are getting introduced to worms and crickets as a source of protein, with a futuristic view vis-a-vis rapidly changing earth, environment and climate. The government is taking the right measures to improve crop productivity and effective yield. You can't dismiss every potentially good thing because someone is instilling fear and doubt in gullible minds that are steeped in ignorance.
Long term impacts need to be studied…agreed. But we got to start somewhere right? And we can address the issue when there is an "alarming" situation. Today's food and foreign exchange problems must be addressed NOW. It is a fact that in India farmers protests are mostly politically motivated. We should brush them aside and strengthen our supply chains, on a continuous basis.
Common on. Do we need really need it after the repercussions GM cotton. This is all business. Stop GM food. It will wash away everything.
Where are good leaders?
To combat any genetically modified food, India can abolish the concept of seed patents, where these seed companies had exclusive rights to sell a GM seed without competitors. If you take the patent away, you take away the entire economic model for these companies, and competitors can create generics. Basically modelling India's pharma industry.
That's a good explanation and the best part was providing information on the best alternative available. I understand that government is trying to reduce the foreign exchange expense by introducing the GM seeds for more crop yields but if the GM seeds have that far worse effects then it is better to use hybrid seeds with more yields. We as a Indians have to start looking into economics now a days due to fall of Srilanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan due to foreign reserve drops and continuous outflows.
Fixing the soil nutrition contents by natural methods and every problem would be fix.
How come such a huge shift edible requirement in just 4 years ? From importing 13.35 MT last year to 34 MT 2025-26? Are you sure this is right ?
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The rich and big business are like bulls in a china shop. And they don't care how many common people die.
GMO's will be the death of man kind. COVID19 was a very mild form of a modified virus and it is only a matter of time before a far more dangerous microbe escapes from a lab. GMO's should have never been created and now that they have, they put the entire human race at risk.
No needs, GM mustard seeds, Seed mafiya
GM mustard में उद्पादन अधिक नहीं आ रहा , और यह सेल्फ पॉलिनेट हैं हमारी मधुमक्खी मर जायेगी , आगे कॉटन के GM होने से नुकसान हो रहा है
Well let them do long term research on the effects of this mustard oil on the human body. The results will make it clear
Indian Courts are not bothered and are also not aware of the impact of all on the human survival.
What everyone is missing here is the big enemy so called GREED, if you really want to protect environment then there is a need of major shift in our thinking process. The Greed in us is due to this Export tendency, we are degrading environment by producing more and more so as to become big economy like US and China at the expense of the nature, Gandhi rightly said, 'the world has enough for everyone need but not for everyones Greed.
You should also add the point that currently imported oil from Malesia and other south eastern country is already GM, It is already in our food chain. US FDA does extensive research on these genes if there were any negative result they will just disapprove it. Our scientist has done a good job we should appreciate it.
We need just to encourage just our farmer to yield home grown mustard and provide land and better management….,,free school 2 rs rice subsidy are helping lower strata to survive but impacting the farming occupation as no one wants to be a farmer any more they all want to earn by doing tertiary and secondary occupation but not farming….the free subsidies and free education to all has also negative perspectives as well on the occupation of farming in my area ….all what I observed I am not against subsidy or free education but people physcology runs a different way which impacted mustard millet ragi and other vegetation here in further run