No GM rice approved for commercial cultivation: Union Minister for Agriculture.

• India has categorically stated that no variety of Genetically Modified (GM) rice has been approved for commercial cultivation in India, and it has not exported any GM rice, Narendra Singh Tomar, Union Minister for Agriculture, said in a written reply in Lok Sabha while replying to a query on whether GM rice was discovered in a consignment exported to EU in 2021.

HISTORY

• The discovery of 500 tonnes of genetically modified (GM) rice in a consignment that India exported to the European Union countries in June 2021.
• Several batches of rice flour were marketed in several European countries, as well as in the United States, Iraq, Mauritius, Qatar, Dubai (United Arab Emirates), Lebanon, Senegal and Turkey.
• They were recalled for use in the EU after European Commission Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) identified illegalities in food products upon a check.

 PRESENT STATUS

• India is yet to approve commercial cultivation of a genetically modified food crop. It has, however, cultivated multiple GM rice varieties at various stages of confined field trials.
• The Coalition for GM Free India, in its letter, warned that such trials have led to “contamination and leaks” that have made their way to the food chain.
• The letter, written by a paddy farmer from Kerala, demanded that an inter-ministerial, inter-agency body be set up with the GEAC to facilitate creation of a body to look into illegal GM imports.
• It also suggested that field trials should be banned to avoid any contamination of food and seed supply chains.
• India has approved commercial cultivation of only one GM crop, Bt Cotton.