With Jayanthi shunted, Veerappa Moily clears GM crop trials

In a contentious move, Environment Minister Veerappa Moily on Wednesday approved more than 200 gene modification trials for rice, wheat, maize, castor and cotton, overturning the position of his immediate predecessors - Jayanthi Natarajan and Jairam Ramesh, the Indian Express reported. [caption id=“attachment_1410643” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Environment Minister Veerappa Moily.[/caption] Moily has now called for a meeting of the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC), almost a year since it last met. As then head of the GEAC, the country’s apex bio-safety regulatory authority, Natarajan had stalled clearances until the Supreme Court gave its verdict on a PIL filed by activist Aruna Rodrigues opposing GM field trials until an independent effective regulatory body was put in place. Field trials are pilot projects that are conducted to test efficacy of seeds. Natarajan had put a stay on field trials for GM wheat, rice, maize and castor. The Prime Minister’s Office subsequently sought that the Cabinet arrive at a consensus decision on GM crops, a move that was also stalled by Natarajan. A Technical Expert Committee, constituted  by the court, then recommended an indefinite moratorium on such trials until certain shortcomings in the process were addressed by the government. The apex court subsequently asked the government to submit an affidavit on its position, post which the PMO asked various ministries concerned to arrive at a consensus on the issue, a move which was again reportedly stalled by Natarajan. The government is expected to file its affidavit in the Supreme Court sometime soon, and the government is hopeful that the approval by Moily’s office will see the Supreme Court rule in its favour. In November last year, the Maharashtra government became the first state to permit field trials of GM food crops. The state gave some private companies permission to conduct field trials in agriculture universities’ farms, a move taken despite state agriculture minister Radakrishna Vikhe-Patil’s insistence that there should first be a public debate over the subject. However, the private companies still needed a final clearance by the GEAC. In 2009, then environment minister Jairam Ramesh had imposed an indefinite ban on the sale of Bt Brinjal. He also made it mandatory that the state government approve GM field trials. Moily, who took over as environment minister on 24 December last year, cleared at least 70 projects in just 20 days of assuming office. “I believe that no approval, after following the due process of law, should be kept pending for even a day,” he told The Hindu.