Context: Rubber farmers, under the aegis of NCRFRPS (National Consortium of Regional Federations of Rubber Producers Societies), have urged the Centre to allow the cultivation of GM rubber plants.
The Central government has stated that the introduction of GM rubber plants is only possible after the State concerned gives permission to initiate confined field trials.
Relevance of the Topic: Prelims: Key facts about GM crops; GM Rubber; Regulations related to GM crops.
What are GM crops?
- Genetically Modified (GM) crops are plants that have had their DNA modified (altered) through genetic engineering.
- It involves inserting new DNA into the genome of a plant.
- The seeds produced by these plants will inherit the new DNA.
- E.g., BT cotton is a genetically modified variety of cotton that contains genes from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis.
Benefits of GM crops:
- Genetic modification is done to transfer a particular trait to the plant in order to:
- Increased the yield of a crop
- Increased nutritional content of a crop
- Developing resistance to:
- Abiotic stresses like temperature, salinity or herbicide-resistant
- Biotic stresses like insect-resistant crops.
Regulations related to GM crops:
- Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) and their products are regulated under the “Rules for the Manufacture, Use, Import, Export and Storage of Hazardous Microorganisms/ Genetically Engineered Organisms or Cells, 1989.”
- The rules are notified under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986. These rules regulate the use, research, and commercialisation of GMOs, especially for environmental and biosafety concerns.
- The commercial cultivation and the field trials of GM crops require clearance from the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
- After the GEAC clearance, the state governments have the power to approve (or reject) the field trains of particular GM crops in their respective states.
Status of GM crops in India:
- BT cotton is the only GM crop that is commercially allowed for cultivation in India from 2002.
- Field trials of GM Mustard (DMH-11) were approved by GEAC in 2022, but its commercial release is still pending.
Genetically Modified (GM) Rubber:
- The world's first GM rubber plant was planted in Assam in 2021.
- Developed at: Kerala-based Rubber Research Institute of India
- GM rubber has additional copies of the gene MnSOD (manganese-containing superoxide dismutase) inserted in the plant. The MnSOD gene is derived from the rubber plant itself.
- Natural rubber is a native of warm humid Amazon forests, and is not naturally suited for the colder conditions in the Northeast.
- This particular variety of GM Rubber is developed exclusively for the northeast to survive the severe cold conditions during winter.
- The GM rubber plants overexpressed the MnSOD gene as expected, and thus offer protection to young saplings.
- There is no risk of genes flowing from the GM rubber into any other native species.
- After the approval from the state governments, the confined field trials of GM rubber plants were initiated in Assam in 2021, and Tripura in 2024.