MANU/PIBU/0793/2016

Department/Board : Press Information Bureau

Date : 06.10.2016

GEAC Sends Public Comments on Assessment of Food and Environmental Safety Report on Environmental Release of GE Mustard to Sub-Committee

A total of 759 comments were received from various stakeholders on the Assessment of Food and Environmental Safety (AFES) report on environmental release of Genetically Engineered Mustard, during the consultation period (till 5.30 PM on 05.10.2016). All the comments received by the GEAC Secretariat have been sent to the Sub-Committee for further examination. After evaluating all the comments, the Sub-Committee has been requested to submit their report to GEAC.

A total of 29 persons from different parts of the country, including Haryana, Punjab, Gujarat, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha etc. came personally to review the dossier made available in Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. There were researchers, farmers who studied the detailed dossier and gave comments.

Earlier, the report submitted by the Sub-Committee was evaluated by GEAC in its 130th meeting held on 11.08.2016 and approved for posting the report on Ministry's website for a period of 30 days (from 05.09.2016 to 05.10.2016) for wider consultation. The abridged report was placed on website and the whole biosafety dossier was made available for review by the public in Ministry.

Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) in its 126th meeting held on 04.01.2016 constituted a Sub-Committee to review the technical details and Dossier related to environmental release of Genetically Engineered (GE) Mustard (Brassica juncea) hybrid DMH-11 and use of parental events (varuna bn 3.6 and EH2 mod bs 2.99) for development of new generation hybrids submitted by the Centre for Genetic Manipulation of Crop Plants (CGMCP), University of Delhi South Campus (UDSC).

Accordingly, the Sub-Committee held two meetings on February 02, 2016 and April 11, 2016 to review the Dossier and submitted its report "Assessment of Food and Environmental Safety (AFES) "for review of GEAC members.