In the absence of any viable regulatory mechanism for gene technology, the Supr-eme Court has set up a six-member expert committee to monitor field trials on certain crops using genetically-modified organisms. The panel. which has three months to submit its rep-ort, will ensure that the open tests do not have any adverse impact on the traditional crops, flora and fauna due to the release of harmful GMOs into the atmosphere.
Since GMO trials are normally done in laboratories to ensure no harmful gene under test escapes into the air, many advanced countries, including the US, had restricted “open field” trials, a PIL filed by the NGO Gene Campaign and environmental activist Aruna Rodrigues in 2005 had said while urging the SC to direct the government to frame relevant rules to regulate such trials and set up an expert committee to implement them.
The committee is to comprise Prof. V.L. Chopra, a former Planning Commis-sion and PM’s science advisory panel member; Dr Imran Siddiqui, an expert in cellular and molecular biology; Prof. P.S. Rama-krishnan, an environment and biodiversity scientist; Dr P.C. Chauhan, an expert in genetics toxicology and food safety; Prof. P.C. Kesavan, an expert in genetics toxicology, radiation biology and sustainable technologies; and Dr B. Sivakumar, a former director of the National Institute of Nutrition,
The terms and references of the committee, ordered set up by a bench comprising Chief Justice of India S.H. Kapadia and Justices A.K. Patnaik and Swat-anter Kumar, include to review and recommend to the Centre the nature of sequences of “risk assessment (environment and health safety) studies needed for all GM crops, sequencing of tests and specifying which environmental release through open field trial can be permitted.