The Hindu : National : Court permits varsity field trials on GM mustard

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Saturday, Oct 14, 2006
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Court permits varsity field trials on GM mustard

Legal Correspondent

New Delhi: The Supreme Court, which restrained field trials on genetically modified products having commercial overtones, has permitted Delhi University to sow seeds of the newly developed DMH-11 mustard variety within this month for academic research.

On September 22, the court, acting on a petition from Aruna Rodrigues and three others, restrained the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) from giving fresh approval for genetically modified products, particularly for commercial purposes. The public interest litigation petition sought a ban on release of genetically modified organism/seeds having the potential of causing major health hazards.

On Friday a Bench comprising Chief Justice Y.K. Sabharwal and Justices C.K. Thakker and R.V. Raveendran modified the order and granted permission to the university, in particular the Centre for Genetic Manipulation of Crop Plants, to carry out field trials on GM mustard.

Senior counsel P.P. Rao, appearing for the university, said the first three weeks of October were the sowing season for experimental purposes and pleaded for permission so that a whole year would not go waste.

Counsel for the petitioner Prashant Bhushan, however, said genetically modified organism/seeds even for research would cause major health hazards once they were released into the environment.

As the names suggested by Mr. Bhushan were not acceptable to the centre for inclusion as independent members in the GEAC, the Bench asked the centre to come out with names of independent experts and ascertain from them whether their research was funded by biotech companies or not. The matter will be listed after five weeks.

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