"The Committee feels that this leaves a scope for the technology developers to fudge the data to suit their own requirements", said the panel's report on 'Genetically Modified crops and its impact on Environment'.The panel, headed by the Congress member Renuka Chowdhury, submitted its report to the Rajya Sabha chairman M Venkaiah Naidu on Friday.The report comes days after the government told the Supreme Court that the Centre could take a final decision on the regulator's go-ahead for commercial cultivation of GM mustard by September-end. It had, however, assured the apex court on July 31 that the transgenic mustard would not be allowed to be sowed till then.The Court had then agreed to postpone the next hearing on the issue to the second week of September and directed the Centre to place the decision taken on Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee's (GEAC) go-ahead for GM mustard before it. The GEAC had last year given its approval for commercial release of transgenic mustard, developed by a Delhi University institution.The parliamentary panel, however, questioned the composition of the GEAC. It questioned how could they be so sure when there has been "no in-house scientific study carried out till date to analyse the impact of GM crops on human health".The Committee in its analysis also felt that farmers who were using GM seeds had lost sovereignty over the seeds since they had to purchase seeds from the seed selling companies every time even if they were not getting the fair price for their produce. At present, Bt Cotton is the only GM crop whose cultivation is allowed in India.Referring to issues around GM mustard, the Committee has also come to know that many state governments in the country are opposed to its entry even in the form of field trials, leave alone commercial cultivation.

Source: Times of India August 25, 2017 16:07 UTC