Critics claim GM mustard as HT crop, but supporters decry conspiracy-theorists

Critics of GM crops on Monday asserted that indigenous genetically modified mustard is nothing but a herbicide-tolerant crop, which is forbidden in the country so far, even as the supporters said it is time to shun “conspiracy theories”, which do not have any scientific evidence and rely on “proven science”.

“A crop is herbicide-tolerant or not is based on what genes were inserted, and what new traits has the plant acquired, not by how the applicant describes the plant. Bar gene being enhanced manifold in its expression is a dead giveaway that GM mustard is nothing but an HT crop,” anti-GM activists said here on Monday, ahead of a scheduled hearing in the Supreme Court on the contentious issue.

A herbicide-tolerant crop is a genetically modified one that is designed to tolerate a particular type of herbicide, which kills other weeds in a field. While such HT crops are not allowed in India, the indigenous GM mustard carries one of the genes (bar) that are typically used to make a crop tolerant to herbicides.

“As both the parental lines of DMH-11 carry bar gene; they will produce nothing but HT progeny. The government and its regulator must accept them as HT crop/ lines and treat them accordingly,” the critics said.

The Union Ministry of Environment and Forest in an affidavit before the top court stated that it would be inappropriate to describe DMH-11 as herbicide tolerant because such a term could be used only when the herbicide-tolerant trait was a commercial trait. In other words, such a property would be the sole reason behind permitting GM mustard, where in the case of DMH-11, the gene was only used as a selection marker for laboratory experiments

The ministry also informed the court that the genes used in mustard (bar-barstar-barnase system) had a history of more than 20 years of safety in the food chain and Indian regulators followed all due checks on safety and yield increase before granting their nod.

“The (government) affidavit does present a very comprehensive and accurate body of solid evidence about the biosafety, efficacy and agronomic performance, delineating scientific rigour and regulatory oversight spanning over two decades. India must shun conspiracy theorists and their self-centred and unproven theories in favour of the proven science of biotechnology and allow access to technologies with the-history-of-safe use,” said Bhagirath Chaudhary from South Asia Biotechnology Centre.

The Centre in October permitted the “environmental release” of GM mustard DMH-11 and its parental lines for four years for developing better mustard hybrids using these lines. Since DMH-11 has nearly 30% more yields, the government pitched it as a potential solution to reduce India’s edible oil import bill – a claim that has also been countered by critics.

The anti-GM campaigners and farm unions also released an open letter arguing that DMH-11 would not bring any economic benefits to the farmers and would further contaminate our rich heritage of diversity of mustard and will pollute soil and the environment.

"We urge the government to stop and reject the approval of the GM Mustard and all other GM field trials to avoid the irreparable damage that GMOs will cause to our diversity, soil, food and the environment," more than 40 farm leaders including Yudhvir Singh and Rakesh Tikair from Bhartiya Kisan Union said in the letter.