India gives environmental approval for gene- modified mustard

 

A government panel has approved an application seeking environmental clearance of indigenously developed genetically modified (GM) mustard seeds, experts said, paving the way for commercial use of the country’s first GM food crop. 

The Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC), a unit of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, has approved the GM mustard seeds, said a top scientist and an agricultural expert in India. 

The lab-altered mustard seeds were developed by Deepak Pental, a scientist and former vice-chancellor of Delhi University, and his team. He said the commercial use of GM mustard seeds would take a couple of years. 

Many scientists and agricultural experts have called for faster clearance of GM crops in India, where farms are shrinking due to rapid urbanisation and erratic weather patterns threatening the output of staples such as rice and wheat. India first allowed GM cultivation in 2002 with genetically modified cotton.