India's GEAC Recommends the Environmental Release of GM Mustard DMH-11

During the 147th meeting of India's Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) held on October 18, 2022, chaired by Shri Naresh Pal Gangwar, Additional Additional Secretary of MoEF&CC, the Committee recommended the environmental release of genetically modified (GM) mustard in the country.

The recommendation was made for Dhara Mustard Hybrid-11 (DMH-11), a GM hybrid variety of mustard developed by Dr. Deepak Pental, the ex-Vice Chancellor of the University of Delhi. The mustard DMH-11 hybrid variety was developed at the Centre for Genetic Manipulation of Crop Plants (CGMCP), University of Delhi South Campus. The transgenic mustard hybrid DMH-11 uses parental lines bn 3.6 carrying barnase and bar genes, and modbs 2.99 containing barstar and bar genes.

In their recommendations, the Committee states that the environmental release of mustard hybrid DMH-11 for its seed production and testing is as per existing ICAR guidelines and other extant rules/regulations prior to commercial release. One of the conditions for this recommendation states that the approval is for a limited period of four years from the date of issue of the approval letter and is renewable for two years at a time based on the compliance report.

For more details, read the Minutes of the 147th Meeting of the GEAC.