NEW DELHI: Seed companies and agriculture research institutes can go ahead with scientific field trials of different transgenic varieties ofGM crops which had got clearance from the government's regulatory body Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) in March last year.
A day after agriculture minister Sharad Pawar spelt out the government's stand over the contentious issue while pitching for field trials, environment minister M Veerappa Moily on Thursday gave his go-ahead to the move.
Moily said he had cleared the file as the GEAC's decision was not bound by the Supreme Court's moratorium (on field trials) order.
The decision, which had been kept in abeyance by his predecessor Jayanthi Natarajan, will now allow companies and institutions to put more than 200 transgenic varieties of rice, wheat, maize, castor and cotton on field trials to check their suitability for commercial production.
Moily emphasized that these companies (both government and private) and research institutions can, however, go for trial only after getting nod from respective state governments.
"If a particular state government does not allow it, these entities will not be able to go for field trial," environment secretary V Rajagopalan said.
It is learnt that some states like Punjab, Haryana, Maharashtra and Gujarat do not have any problem in allowing field trials. At present, government allows commercial production of only Bt cotton (transgenic variety of cotton). Though Bt brinjal had passed its field trial, it was not allowed to go for commercial production amid strong protests by civil society groups...
@ Veerappa Moily okays field trials of GM crops - The Times of India:
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