The GEAC grants approval for GM products' release into the environment.Environmentalists and anti-GM groups had been demanding that the ministry make all the documents on the study into GM mustard, including a dossier on bio-safety details, public. If GEAC goes in favour of the commercial release of GM mustard, it will be the first genetically modified food crop to be cleared for cultivation in India. "Therefore, potential of DMH-11 becoming a weed in mustard fields or in the natural ecosystem is highly unlikely," it adds.The mustard variety has been developed by a group of Delhiite scientists over the past decade. GEAC had held consultations on DMH-11 with plant biologists, ecologists and environmentalists before giving the task of compiling all evidence to a sub-committee. Earlier, under UPA's tenure, GEAC had cleared GM brinjal -Bt brinjal -for release, but the environment ministry subsequently put a moratorium on its commercialisation amid widespread protest against GM food crops.

Source: Times of India September 05, 2016 23:11 UTC