Maharashtra firm to seek NoC in five states for GM brinjal trials

PUNE: Bejo Sheetal Seeds Pvt Ltd, a seed company based at Jalna in Maharashtra, will soon seek no-objection certificates from as many as five states to carry out biosafety research level (BRL) trials of genetically modified brinjal.

The company recently received permission of the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) under the Ministry of Environment and Forests to conduct the BRL 2 trials, which are the penultimate-stage studies before a seed is considered for commercial cultivation.

“We are writing to five state governments for taking no-objection certificate for the BRL 2 trials,” Bejo Sheetal Seeds Chairman Suresh Agrawal said. The company wants to take trials in Maharashtra, Haryana, Delhi, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh.

It received the gene from the Indian Agricultural Research Institute under a public-private joint project in 2005. Bejo Sheetal Seeds has to carry out all the trails and studies, after which it will get the right to sell the GM brinjal seeds along with four other companies who will share the cost of the trials and other studies. The BRL 1 trials have already been carried out in Jalna, Varanasi and Guntur.

The UPA government had lifted an indefinite moratorium on trials of GM crops. The GEAC under the NDA government has given permissions for field trials of about 15 crops, which include some food crops like maize, mustard and brinjal. Activists had opposed these trials alleging that the GEAC had not maintained transparency in its decision-making as was expected of it.