1. Your Food is at Risk!

2. Coalition for a GM-Free India
www.indiagminfo.org
Delhi University’s GM Mustard
Risks and Threats

3. Your Food is at Risk!

4. Background
 As per media reports, a Genetically Modified
Mustard variety is on the verge of commercial
cultivation in India
 The objective of this Presentation is to
facilitate an informed public debate about
this GMO – GM Mustard hybrid DMH 11 or
DU’s GM Mustard.
 Bt Brinjal debate followed by an indefinite
Moratorium on GMOs in 2010
 BRAI Bill for setting up of an independent,
single window regulator for easy and speedy
clearances of GM crops tabled in 2013
Scientists to Submit GM Mustard Report to Government. May 19th 2015. Reuters Business News.
http://in.reuters.com/article/2015/05/19/india-gmo-trials-idINKBN0O40AY20150519 accessed on May 28, 2015

5.  2002 – BT Cotton introduced in India
 2002 - GM Mustard by ProAgro a subsidary of Bayer
rejected by Indian regulators due to various concerns
 Only one GM Crop BT Cotton cultivated commercially
in India. Developers call it a commercial success. Many
reports have linked BT Cotton to farmer suicides,
however
 Many GM Crops like Corn, Soya, Wheat, Brinjal, okra,
Potato, Sorghum etc. under field trials in India
 Oct 2009 - GEAC approved BT Brinjal for commercial
cultivation
 Feb 2010 - Decision overturned by MoEF and an
indefinite moratorium imposed on GM Crops, post
public consultations in 7 cities, citing insufficient
safety data on BT Brinjal

6.  Public Sector GM Mustard is a Trojan
horse to clear the doorway for private
sector GM Crops belonging to powerful
companies like Monsanto.
 Monsanto’s stated objective – “By 2020,
no food shall be grown that we do not
own”.
 Politics of food control via seed
patenting and IPRs.
 Perceived as a threat to national
sovereignty as powerful nations dictate
food policies, food stocks and food
subsidies of developing nations via
FTAs and WTO policies unlike ever
before.

7. 2002- Two years after the first big harvests of RR
soy (GM) in Argentina, serious health effects
including high rates of birth defects as well as
infertility, stillbirths, miscarriages, and cancers
were reported.
Source: Fr. Peter’s Environmental Notes
False claims around yield
and pesticide usage
Increased Pesticide Usage
Farmer suicides unabated.
10 years of Bt cotton in India– False Hype
and Failed Promises,
http://indiagminfo.org/?p=393
Serious Health effects
In GM Corn and Soya cultivated areas
Canola Oil is not healthy
Jivo asked to withdraw the advertisements
Making unsubstantiated claims regarding
Health benefits of Canola oil in Dec 2014
http://indiagminfo.org/?p=813
http://omega6.wellwise.org/canola-oil-
gmo-and-allergies
RO Vles and others. Nutritional Evaluation
of Low-Erucic-Acid Rapeseed Oils.
Toxicological Aspects of Food Safety,
Archives of Toxicology, Supplement 1,
978:23-32

8.  Brassica (rapeseed/mustard) is the
most important edible oilseed
crop in India.
 Lowest amounts of saturated fatty
acids and contain adequate
amounts of linoleic and linolenic
fatty acids.
 Conversion rate from seeds to oil
is 33%. (Higher than other
oilseeds like Soyabean, Groundnut
etc.
 Conversion rate to oilseed cake
(used for cattle feed as well as soil
fertility input) is 67%.

9. 1950-51 3.68
Quintals/ha
(irrigation data
not available)
1990-91 9.04
Quintals/ha
(under
irrigation)
2012-13 12.62
Quintals/ha
(under
irrigation)
Rajasthan 48.12%
Madhya Pradesh 11.31%
Haryana 11.06%
Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal,
Gujarat, Assam, Bihar, Punjab
are other important mustard
producing states
Main Mustard producing States
Gujarat – a whopping 16.95
quintals/ha in 2012-13
Agricultural Statistics at a Glance 2014. Table 4.18(b). pp111. Ministry of
Agriculture, Government of India.
http://eands.dacnet.nic.in/PDF/Agricultural-Statistics-At-Glance2014.pdf
Average Yields

10. Indian Mustard is not just an oil seed, it is also a vegetable crop
Main Reasons for the 2010 Bt Brinjal /GM food Moratorium
1) Chronic Toxicity
2) Lack of Independent Credible Testing
3) An independent regulatory body
http://www.moef.nic.in/downloads/public-information/minister_REPORT.pdf

11.  Mustard and its uses are documented in Ayurvedic literature like Caraka
Saṃhitā, Suśruta Saṃhitā, Bhela Saṃhitā and Kāśyapa Saṃhitā.
 Medicinal properties are ascribed to it in the ancient texts of Atharva Veda.
 The applications of mustard seeds, oil and leaves in diet and medicine have
been indisputably established in Ayurvedic practice.
 The numerous uses and benefits are beyond the scope of the current
presentation

12. 70 Crores of public money has been spent on
development of GM Mustard. If approved more would be
spent on promotion, quite possibly via public schemes.
 The yields of hybrid varieties developed via traditional systems are
equivalent or more than this GM Mustard.
 The Ministry of Agriculture has recently standardized the seed
production technology of Indian mustard hybrid NRC Sankar Sarson
which yields 2.4 tonnes per hectare.
Ref: http://agricoop.nic.in/Annual%20report2012-13/ARE2012-13.pdf
 Agronomic practices like System of Mustard Intensification can yield up
to 2.5 tonnes to 3 tonnes per hectare. When all principles of SRI were
used, yields touched 4 tonnes per hectare! (Such evidence has been
collected from experience of around 1600 farmers, with government
machinery supporting the effort in Bihar)

13.  Warped Import Policies - Duties have been cut drastically
from a bound rate of 300 per cent to almost zero now,
encouraging cheaper imports of various edible oils.
 Possibly as a consequence of such cheap imports, an average
Indian consumes double the edible oil recommended by
doctors in their caution against health problems like cardiac
illnesses
Policy Solutions
 Raising import tariffs to stop cheap edible oil from flooding
the market
 Providing an economic price to mustard farmers
 Proper processes for procurement of Mustard produce

14. “The matter for permitting trials of transgenic crops has indeed been fraught with
concerns as no unanimity has arrived at, either in their favour or against them.
The government has taken a view to wait until a national consensus is evolved. It has
also been decided that discussions should be held with all stake holders and to reach
to a general agreement on the controversy.”
Government of Rajasthan on withdrawing the NOC
 Agriculture is a state subject.
 Haryana – No NOC for GM mustard trials so far.
 Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan do not want trials
of GM Mustard.
 2012 - Rajasthan state government withdrew its
NOC and issued directions for terminating the
trials by burning the crops.

15. The claims, technology and testing processes are similar to DU’s GM
mustard. The rationale used by the regulators in 2002/3 remains
pertinent irrespective of public or private sector genesis of the GMO.
 Health safety not established. No safety data on mustard leaf was provided.
 LIES ABOUT YIELD: The yield increase as per ICAR was only 5% and not in the 16-
23% range over he best check Varuna in different GM hybrids as claimed.
 LIES ABOUT POLLEN FLOW: ICAR Showed pollen flow upto 75 metres more than
double of the 35 metres reported by the company.
 The use of Bar gene as a marker gene, increased weediness and consequent use of
more toxic persistent herbicides.
 Mustard being an edible crop, important policy issues related to labeling,
traceability etc not established
GEAC in 2003
The conclusions were based on the data presented by the company,
without any independent scrutiny, fresh data analysis or evaluation.

16. Pollinators and Honey Bees
• Mustard is Highly attractive to Bees.
• GM crops impact non-target organisms like honey
bees and butterflies.
• Pollinators are vital to farm productivity
• Bee presence is lowest in GM fields.
• Organic fields three times more abundance
• Genetic Engineering process brings about both
qualitative and quantitative changes in nectar or pollen
composition as well as interference in the plant
biochemical pathways that potentially impact pollinators
• Lora A Morandin and Mark L Winston (2005): Wild bee
abundance and seed production in conventional,
organic and genetically modified canola. Ecological
Applications 15:871-81
http://www.esajournals.org/doi/abs/10.1890/03-5271

17. •GM Mustard is a matter of great
concern as it would impact the
pollinators
•Bharatpur is the second largest
honey collecting areas in India.
Exactly the same yield increase
has been reported in GM
Mustard, Bharatpur Field Trials!

18. GM Mustard similarly uses the technology of herbicide tolerance even if garbed as
high-yielding. This is particularly dangerous in the Indian context where there is
almost no end-use regulation of agro-chemicals.

19. DU’s GM Mustard is also
herbicide tolerant.
Similar Barnase Barstar system
has been used to create GM
Mustard
http://www.gmoseralini.org/new-
seralini-study-shows-roundup-
damages-sperm/

20.  Round-up Ready GM crops use herbicides
 Super Weeds
 Horrific Birth defects, reproductive disorders
Chaco, Argentina
 Congenital malformations in newborns in
Paraguay caused by Glyphosate exposure.
 Glyphosate - Endocrine disruption, non-
Hodgkin’ s Lymphoma, Nervous system
disorder, Parkinson’s disease etc.
 A direct toxic effect on amphibians, aquatic
animals and the entire environment
 Glufosinate toxic to pollinators and
beneficial insects EFSA (2005) *
*Conclusion regarding the peer review
of the pesticide risk
assessment of the active substance: glufosinate. Europ
ean FoodSafetyAuthority. EFSA Scientific Report 27: 1-
-
81. http://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/efsajournal/doc/27
r.pdf.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=Developmental+and+
dysmorphogenic+effects+of+glufosinate+ammonium
+on+ mouse+embryos+in+culture ; Check pp41-65 for herbicides’ impacts in this compilation:
http://indiagminfo.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Sci-ref-complete-book-2nd-edition.pdf

21.  Mustard is Both Self and Cross
Pollinating Plant.
 Tiny Seeds easily carried away by wind
 Contamination Possibilities over short
and long distance through cross
pollination via bees and other carriers.
 Seeds remain viable for years and could
be transferred through Feral plants and
other volunteers.
 The cultivation, even field trials of GM
threatens other varieties of the crop.
This would endanger the availability of
safe and Organic Mustard, permanently
and irrevocably
Deepak Pental to journalists of DTE magazine
““it is wrong to claim that transgenes won’t
move to non-transgenic material. If you have a
selection over it like a herbicide, then they
spread very quickly “
“ the non-transgenic Brassica juncea as well as
Brassica rapa that is grown in eastern India can
‘receive’ these genes.
An End of Choice to Farmers and
Consumers. The cultivation, even field
trials of GM threatens other varieties of
the crop. Mustard is especially
susceptible, This would endanger the
availability of safe and Organic Mustard.
GM Mustard Fild Trials Flout SC Orders
Even though ICAR found contamination at
75 meters in the case of Pro-Agro’s GM
mustard, the isolation distance prescribed
at present for GM mustard trials is only
50 meters.
Contamination Risks

22. The cultivation of GM Mustard will threaten all other varieties of
Mustard with contamination. This would endanger the availability
of safe and Organic Mustard, permanently and irrevocably.
 2002-GM oilseed Rape got imported into France from the Canada.
 2004-Japanese port areas as well as prefectures far from the import locations contaminated
with GM rapeseed
Unauthorized GM mustard growth was found along railway lines along borders with Italy and
France, till oilseed processing factories in Switzerland.
 Organic Rapeseed cultivation not possible in Canada due to large scale contamination
 2008- GM oilseed rape cross-fertilised with a distantly related weed plant, charlock,
discovered in a follow up study after 2 years of a 3-year research! Unauthorized GM material.
Found in conventional variety.
www.theguardian.com/science/2005/jul/25/gm.food
 2010-GM Herbicide Tolerance (both glyphosate and glufosinate) discovered in wild plants n
North Dakota., introduced into nature without intent or approval.
www.nature.com/news/2010/100806/full/news.2010.393.html.
 2012/13- GM contaminations discovered in S.Korea and Switzerland. GM Rapeseed cultivation
is not authorised in these countries
www.istockanalyst.com/article/viewiStockNews/articleid/4274136

23.  Many instances of farmers being sued by companies like Monsanto.
 1998-Schmeiser an organic canola farmer for 40 years was sued along with
numerous other farmers by Monsanto for patent infringement. Most farmers
settled but Schmeiser won after a 10 year legal battle. Monsanto was found guilty
of contamination and releasing GM Crops in nature without control.
 2010- Steve Marsh, an Australian wheat farmer lost his organic status due to
contamination from a neighbor’s GM canola field . Marsh lost , when the judge
ruled that the neighbor could not be held responsible. The case has gone on
appeal to a higher court in 2015.
Its apparent that GM rapeseed-mustard would be
impossible to contain – biologically, it would
contaminate non-GM varieties apart from
crossing with wild relatives; it would spread as
physical admixtures to unexpected and distant
locations too. *
* Becky Price and Janet Cotter (2014): The GM Contamination
Register: A review of recorded contamination incidents associated
with genetically modified organisms (GMOs), 1997-2013.
International Journal of Food Contamination. October 2014. 1:5.
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186%2Fs40550-014-0005-8

24.  India is a signatory to the Cartagena protocol, 2000 and has committed to
protect the Centre of Diversity from GM Crop contamination. This was one of
the reasons for the BT Brinjal moratorium amongst many others.
 India has a tremendous Mustard diversity. The Directorate of Rapeseed-
Mustard Research (DRMR) alone has 1868 accessions of Indian Mustard.
Further, around 12755 accessions of rapeseed-mustard are available in India.
 Although its been established* that India is the Centre of Diversity of Mustard,
attempts are being made to prove otherwise.
 The Supreme Court’s TEC, in its majority report, in the year 2013 had asked for
GM research to be stopped for all those crops for which India is the Centre of
Origin and/or Diversity.
*R S Paroda and R K Arora (Eds) (1991):
Plant Genetic Resources – Conservation and Management.
International Board for Plant Genetic Resources.
http://www.bioversityinternational.org/fileadmin/
bioversity/publications/Web_version/174/ch05.htm

25.  History of bending rules and norms, and compromising on bio-safety
assessment.
 Public sector Bt cotton variety is mired in an ownership controversy and lead
to its withdrawal.* * Sopory Committee report
 A 2007 Supreme Court order has specified zero tolerance for contamination
for GMOS
The GEAC has been lax with bio-safety measures for GM Mustard, for
instance prescribing only a 50-metre isolation for the trials
Neha Kunjwal, Yogesh Kumar and M S Khan (2014): Flower visiting insect pollinators of
Brown Mustard Brassica juncea (L.) Czern and Coss and their foraging behavior under
caged and open pollination. African Journal of Agricultural Research. Vol. 9(16),
pp.1278-86
 Processes for Trials of Non GM Seeds are more rigorous than the the ones
used for GM Mustard
Is health and food safety less important if crop is
developed by a Public Sector entity?

26. Have the BRL II trials been
approved in the absence of
satisfactory safety data?
 Supreme court orders
ignored
 Data on field trials not
available in public domain
 Testing regime not in place
 GEAC functioning very
opaquely withholding
minutes of the meeting etc.
 RTI applications turned
down repeatedly.
If the safety trials were
indeed satisfactory, then
why the secrecy?

27. The developer of GM Mustard Mr. Deepak Pental has
court cases and negative charges pending against him.
 Department of Science and Technology revealed that it has no idea where
the GM lines in this high profile case came from, and who gave permission
for research. Delhi University’s Gene Mystery.*
*Latha Jishnu in Down To Earth. February 15th 2015. http://www.downtoearth.org.in/content/delhi-
universitys-gene-mystery accessed on May 30, 2015
 Pental is the official applicant and crop developer in the case of the GM
mustard that has reached BRL II stage. The developer has plagiarism charges
against him .
 A court case with charges on the developer of this GM Mustard for using
such ‘hazardous material’ without regulatory approval and for stealing GM
seeds from the laboratory of another Delhi University Professor called P
Pardha Saradhi .The case is against Pental and Prasad, for Prasad stealing
seed of CodA transgenic Indian mustard.

28. The dangerous and unsustainable
GM technology must be banned.
Organic Farming
What are you
going to do?