GEAC GIVES ITS APPROVAL FOR LARGESCALE TRIAL OF RCH 2 Bt COTTON IN SOUTH AND CENTRAL INDIA

GEAC EXPRESSES CONCERN AT ILLEGAL PRODUCTION OF Bt COTTON IN GUJARAT

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The Genetical Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) attached to the Ministry of Environment and Forests held its 37^th Meeting here today. The committee took up for consideration the Proposal of transgenic Bt. Cotton hybrids developed by M/s Rasi Seeds Company Ltd.

which had submitted their application seeking approval of GEAC for:

1. Production of the following transgenic Cotton hybrid seeds in 1400 acres (RCH 2 Bt 600 acres, RCH 20 Bt. 150 acres, RCH 138 Bt 250 acres, RCH 134 Bt 150 acres, RCH 144 Bt 250 acres).
2. For large scale demonstration and commercialization of RCH 2 Bt in South zone.
3. For large scale field trials of RCH 20 Bt in South Zone.
4. For large scale field trials of RCH 2 Bt, RCH 138 Bt and RCH 134 Bt in Central Zone.

 

The committee carefully considered the data provided by the company as well as ICAR trials. It also took into consideration the status of cultivation of Bt cotton in the country. The Committee noted that M/s RASI has transformed their proprietary cotton hybrid with Cry 1 Ac gene along with gene cassette as was done by Mahyco. As the cry 1 Ac gene was evaluated for its environment safety earlier and approved by GEAC, the Committee was of the view that no further bio-safety assessment is required. After satisfying that RASI had transformed the cry1AC have been into their parental lines of the hybrids the Committee concluded:-

1. The trials conducted by the company and ICAR are not conclusive and therefore commercialization cannot be permitted at this stage. As the new hybrids developed by Rasi require further evaluation, the Committee gave its consent for large scale trials in the Central and Southern zones.
2. RCH 2 Bt hybrid which is a direct derivative of the already released RCH 2 non Bt hybrid has been released through All India Coordinated Cotton Improvement Project in 1999 and notified by Department of Agriculture and Co-0peration of Ministry of Agriculture on 3^rd April, 2000 for national cultivation and enjoys the benefit of wide acceptability of cotton growers. The committee noted that the earlier trials RCH 2 hybrid gave appreciable more seed cotton yield over a variety of controlled cotton cultivars consistently. In view of its superiority the GEAC permitted seed production of RCH 2 Bt hybrid in an area of 1 lakh acres. The subsequent trials conducted by the company and ICAR during Kharif 2003 would be further evaluated by the GEAC prior to approving commercial release.
3. The Committee also permitted multiplication of seed ( RCH 20 Bt, RCH 138 Bt, RCH 134 Bt and RCH 144 Bt) in an area of 10 ha to enable the company generate seeds for large scale trials during Kharif 2004.

 

Mechanism for Monitoring of Bt Cotton during Kharif 2003.

In view of the varying agro climatic conditions, the advantage/performance of Bt cotton cannot be established based on one year data. Since the GEAC has approved commercial cultivation of Bt. Cotton only for a period of 3 years, its performance would be evaluated during this period. For the Kharif 2002 season, six Committees constituted by the Ministry visited some of the Bt cotton fields. The Committees have observed that the performance of Bt cotton is satisfactory in terms of bollworm infestation and reduction in use of pesticide sprays as compared to its non Bt counterpart. For the Kharif 2003 season, the Ministry has constituted a Committee to institute a monitoring and verification mechanism for assessment of the performance of Bt. Cotton.

The Minutes of the first Meeting of the above Committee was discussed the GEAC made the following suggestions.

• Ministry of Agriculture should ensure that the performance of Bt cotton is monitored as per the recommendations of the Monitoring Committee.
• Training of the field level officers involved in the monitoring is taken up immediately through CSIR.
• Co-opt an agro economist on the above Committee to evaluate the economic benefits of Bt. Cotton vs. Non-Bt.
• MoEF may organize a stakeholder meeting wherein farmers are invited to share their experience.
• NGOs may be invited to the above meeting or a separate consultation meeting with the NGOs may be organized by the Ministry.

Illegal production of Bt cotton seeds in Gujarat.

The Committee discussed with concern the news paper reports on the production of spurious Bt cotton seed in Gujart. The committee was informed that :-

• The Chairman, GEAC has taken up the matter with the Chief Secretary, State Govt. of Gujarat.
• Packets of seeds alleged to contain Bt. gene has been forwarded to the CICR , Nagpur for verification.
• MoEF to direct the State Govt. to put in place the SLBSC/DLBSC especially in the six States where release of Bt. cotton has been permitted.
• MoEF & DBT & MOA to organize training for the members of SLBSC/DLBSC.
• Action under seed Act and EPA to be initiated under erring companies/individuals.

Transgenic potato:

The Government is following a policy of case by case approval of transgenic crops. Introduction of any new technology requires careful evaluation and long term sustainable benefits. NO request for trials/commercial release of transgenic potato has been made to the GEAC.

The Committee also gave its approval to import and marketing of cell derived r- Hepatitis B vaccine by M/s Shreya Life Science Ltd. Of Mumbai from Bio technology General (Israel) Ltd., Jerusalem. It also granted permission for import and marketing of teriparatide injection-Forteo only bone forming drug for treatment of osteoporosis in India from M/s Lilly France SAS by M/s Eli Lilly and Company (India) Private Ltd. GEAC also approved import and marketing of r-human Granulocyte colony stimulating factor (rh-G-CSF) from M/s Shanghai Sunway Biotech Co. Ltd., China by M/s. Emcure Biotech Ltd., Pune. It granted permission for manufacture and marketing for indigenously developed r-Streptokinase by M/s. Bharat Biotech International Ltd., Hyderabad.

Earlier, in his opening address, the Chairman of the Committee, Shri. V.K. Duggal said that the country is still in the evolutionay stage as far as transgenic crops are concerned. He said that the committee should associate actual stakeholders at some stage in the decision making so that there is greater transparency.