| The Precautionary principle enables decision-makers to adopt precautionary measures when scientific evidence about an environmental or human health hazard is uncertain and the stakes are high. |
- India’s ongoing debate over genetically modified (GM) food crops reached another milestone with a split verdict from the Supreme Court on allowing GM mustard in fields.
- Currently, the only GM seed approved in India is cotton.
- The success in cotton yield spurred the development of GM seeds for food crops like rice, wheat, tomato, brinjal, and mustard, though none have been released yet.
- DMH-11, or Dhara Mustard Hybrid-11, was developed under a publicly funded project at Delhi University’s biotechnology department.
- It has undergone trials by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research over three seasons in different agro-climatic zones and passed the required metrics.
- Consequently, the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC), led by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, approved DMH-11 in October 2022, subject to further tests.
- Environmental groups claim DMH-11 is a ‘herbicide-tolerant’ crop that compels farmers to use specific pesticides, potentially causing environmental harm.
- These concerns, along with the GEAC approval, were contested in court.
- The Supreme Court directed the Centre to develop a policy on GM crops.
| DMH-11 • Dhara Mustard Hybrid-11 (DMH-11) is an indigenously developed transgenic mustard, specifically a genetically modified variant of Herbicide Tolerant (HT) mustard. • It results from a cross between the Indian mustard variety ‘Varuna’ and the East European ‘Early Heera-2’ mustard. • DMH-11 incorporates two alien genes, ‘barnase’ and ‘barstar’, derived from the soil bacterium Bacillus amyloliquefaciens, which facilitate the breeding of high-yielding commercial mustard hybrids. • The “bar gene” helps maintain the genetic purity of the hybrid seed. |
Dig Deeper: Read about BT-cotton and soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis.
