Supreme Court Begins Hearing Pleas To Ban Cultivation Of GM Mustard

The Supreme Court on Tuesday (January 9) began hearing afresh a batch of petitions challenging the central government's decision to commercially cultivate genetically modified (GM) mustard.Multiple petitioners have challenged this move in the top court. Non-governmental organisation Gene Campaign has filed an interim application in its ongoing public interest litigation (PIL), originally initiated in 2004 seeking the strengthening of the regulatory system for genetically modified organisms (GMO). The list of petitioners also includes Research Foundation for Science Technology and activist Aruna Rodrigues, and food security activist V Ananthasayanan.These pleas were originally being heard by a bench headed by now-retired Justice Dinesh Maheshwari. But, after his retirement in May last year, this matter was placed before the Chief Justice of India for reassignment to another bench, leaving the hearing incomplete.Yesterday, a bench of Justices BV Nagarathna and Sanjay Karol began hearing the clutch of petitions seeking a ban on the commercial cultivation of indigenously developed genetically modified mustard, christened 'HT Mustard DMH-11', which in October 2022, received the imprimatur of the environment ministry. This is the first time a transgenic food crop is planned to be commercially cultivated in India.Pointing to the long pendency of the case, with one of the petitions dating back to 2004, the division bench during the hearing expressed its desire to hear and decide the main matter, instead of interlocutory applications. Justice Karol said, “We don't want any ad hoc-ism. This is a vital issue. We will have to examine it in detail and have a wholesome exercise.”Courtroom ExchangeAdvocate Prashant Bhushan led the arguments for the petitioners, beginning with an explanation of the dangers posed by genetically modified organisms, particularly when experimented on in open-field trials. Genetic modification is a process by which the gene of a completely foreign organism is inserted into either a food crop or anything else in order to change its characteristics, he told the bench before adding –“When you insert a foreign gene into a different plant of an unrelated species, the cotton seeds and the plant start generating new proteins which can have all kinds of unintended consequences apart from conferring the characteristics for which it is intended. For example, it can cause toxicity, allergies…all kinds of things. Therefore, the regulation and biosafety relating to these genetically modified organisms have become major issues around the world.”In India, the only genetically modified crop which is grown is Bt cotton, with 'Bt' standing for Bacillus thuringiensis, a soil bacterium killing insects that feed on cotton, Bhushan pointed out. The gene of this insect-killing bacteria is inserted into cotton in order to confer on the plant its characteristics of being an insecticide. Genetically modified brinjal was attempted to be introduced, but subsequently prohibited. “Thankfully,” the counsel exclaimed.In aid of this contentions, Bhushan also pointed to the recommendations of a technical expert committee (TEC) constituted by the Supreme Court in May 2012, as well as the 'serious concerns' raised by a parliamentary standing committee. The TEC had opined that the entire GMO regulatory system in the country was in 'complete disarray' and needed to be set right. It had, among other things, highlighted our lack of expertise in conducting many important tests such as chronic and long-term toxicity studies, the deficiency in our laboratory capacity, and the conflicts of interest in the regulatory framework.“The technical expert committee said that herbicide-tolerant crop should totally be banned in India. All we are asking is for the government to follow the recommendations of this committee,” Bhushan told the bench. GM mustard was not only a herbicide-tolerant crop, but India was also a centre of diversity for mustard, he pointed out, raising apprehensions about the contamination of mustard crops after the introduction of a genetically modified variety.“The argument the government has advanced is also specious. They say it is not to produce a herbicide-tolerant crop but to produce new hybrids. This argument is completely illogical,” Bhushan exclaimed.He also indicated that the TEC report was never properly considered by the top court in a hearing, and eventually in 2022, the environment ministry gave its approval for the commercial cultivation of GM mustard.“Have the recommendations been accepted by the Union? Did you object to it?” Justice Karol asked Attorney-General R Venkataramani.“Yes,” AG Venkataramani said.In response, Justice Karol told the counsel, “Therefore, now we have to go into the legality of the statute…We are now hearing the main matter, not the application. What is the crux of the main matter? You will have to tell us that.”The judge added, “We do not want any ad hoc-ism. This has been pending since ...

Supreme Court Begins Hearing Pleas To Ban Cultivation Of GM Mustard

Awstika Das

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