The Janta Dal (United) on Wednesday staged demonstrations outside Paryavaran Bhavan (office of Environment Ministry), demanding that genetically modified (GM) mustard should not be approved for commercial release.
The protest led by the party MP Kaushalendra Kumar and other senior leaders said the Ministry's exercise for collecting public feedback on the risk assessment report on GM mustards by an expert committee "reeks of non-serious intent".
In a letter written to the Environment Minister Anil Madhav Dave, the party maintained the stand that Indian farmers have proved high yields can be obtained through sustainable agronomic processes and termed as false the claims of higher yield through the GM mustard. The letter was signed by Kumar besides the Party Secretary Afaq Ahmed Khan and National Executive Member Aneel Hegde.
The letter further pointed out that no study has been done to assess whether there is a need for the product and whether it is useful for farmers or the consumers. The trait as engineered is to create ease of hybridisation and is thus beneficial only for seed producers.