Trials on the Genetically Modified (GM) mosquito engineered by researchers at the University of Oxford to control dengue/chikungunya are under way at a laboratory near Chennai. The Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Government of India, gave permission to conduct the evaluation in India. It is in progress at the International Institute of Biotechnology And Toxicology (IIBAT) at Padappai near Chennai. The trials have reached the second stage. ”It is a promising technology which deploys genetically sterile Aedes aegypti male mosquitoes to fight the disease-causing ones,” S.S. Vasan, Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Oxford and Head of Public Health, Oxitec (Oxford Insect Technologies).

Seed producer Monsanto India Ltd has sought regulatory approval in India to sell its genetically modified (GM) corn that is tolerant to herbicides and provides protection from pests. ”We have started the regulatory process for approval of this new GM crop in the Indian market,” said Harvey G. Glick, senior director, scientific affairs, Asia, Monsanto Singapore Co. (Pte) Ltd.

After facing stiff opposition from environment ministry, the proposal to introduce genetically modified (GM) food in India has run into trouble with Planning Commission as well. In the first public positioning by the government, the highest planning body has shown the red light to GM technology in food crops. However, the plan panel has fewer objections on introduction of GM technology in non-edible agro products like cotton. While food safety concerns remain, Planning Commission member Abhijit Sen said India’s crop exports could be severely hit if it allowed GM food crops.

The Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC), the nodal agency on genetically modified (GM) food, has in its last monthly meeting had given a ”no objection certificate” to Doritos corn chips, a processed food product that had, not so long ago, been proven to contain GM corn. The recent approval came after the GEAC had a hearing on the product following its detainment by the Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) at Nhava Sheva Port in Mumbai on the grounds of suspicion of it containing GM food.

"There is no great urgency for Bt brinjal to be launched. For Bt cotton, we should have a statutory comprehensive assessment to recollect our experience with it. Its success and its impacts need to be studied," [Indian forests and environment minister] said.

Seven years after the commercial launch of Monsanto’s Bt cotton, Indian farmers are about to plant the first publicly bred genetically modified (GM) seeds of the crop. The current kharif season will see around 10,000 acres being sown under Bikaneri Nerma-Bt, an in-bred variety, and 2,000 acres under a hybrid, NHH 44-Bt – both developed by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research’s Central Institute for Cotton Research (CICR).

A hundred village councils (Naattukkoottam) will be formed this year to raise awareness on proper farming methods and the threats posed by genetically modified (GM) crops, Agriculture Minister Mullakkara Ratnakaran said on Friday. This is part of an action plan of the State Government against GM crops, the Minister said. He was delivering an Environment Day message at the district-level distribution of soil health cards organised here by the Agriculture and Soil Survey Departments.

The Mahyco (Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds Company Limited), propagators of the controversial Bt Cotton and Bt Brinjal seeds, could not convince the media on the safety aspects of their technology, at a press conference held here on Thursday. The company officials enumerated at least 25 different biosafety and food/feed safety studies on Bt Brinjal since 2002, but in a significant omission, they failed to mention that all of the studies were financed by Mahyco itself.

With the new environment minister Jairam Ramesh disfavouring genetically modified (GM) foods such as a variety of brinjal and tomato, the future of such products seems to hang in balance. ”I am not gung ho on GM foods. Should we promote BT brinjal? Jury is still on and I am not sure. I am not great enthusiastic for GM foods,” the minister said.

”In fact, I would treat BT Cotton different from BT foods. But GM tea, GM coffee, GM rubber, yes, I am for them. Or for that matter, BT mustard is also important as I believe there is a role for GM crops, Ramesh said while outlining his priorities as he assumed charges of the ministry.

Genetic engineering is a tough cover for even a well-worn agricultural journalist like me. But for a non-agricultural journalist to spend just four days researching the impact of GE seeds on cotton farmer suicides in India is a bit of a stretch. It’s like me being qualified to safely land a Boeing 747 after reading ”The Life and Times of Orville and Wilbur Wright.”