Punjab govt plans to approve GM corn varieties without trial

LAHORE: In an attempt to grant approval to genetically modified (GM) maize in violation of rules and contravening regulatory process, Punjab government has covertly included these seed varieties in the agenda of Punjab Seed Council (PSC) meeting scheduled to be held on Wednesday (today).

Among other issues, the agenda of the 50th meeting of PSC includes giving the final green signal to several seed varieties for commercial cultivation. As per agenda item (G), GM Maize cases of multinational companies including varieties DKC-6142, DKC-6876, P1543-YHR, 30Y87-YHR, and 31R88-YHR would be presented in the PSC meeting, despite the fact that some key pre-requisites of regulatory process in this connection were yet to be completed. More worryingly, these GM varieties were added in the agenda of the PSC 50th meeting as a special item mentioned exclusively under a separate head apparently in an effort to keep it secret, sources said.

This clandestine move of Punjab government has irked various stakeholders of maize seed research and development. Leading researchers from Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have strongly condemned the efforts of the provincial Agriculture Department for ‘favouring multinational seed companies’ in sheer violation of the regulatory process.

One major pre-requisite was a nod from the Expert Sub Committee, which has not been given yet. The GM maize varieties on the agenda were discussed in the 76th Expert Sub Committee meeting held on February 6, 2018 and subsequently not given a green signal because they had not completed the required two-year Distinguish Uniform Stability (DUS) trials.

As per meeting minutes, all these varieties were not recommended for the next step as mandatory trials were not completed and its data was not discussed by the stakeholders.

It has been learnt that even the one year trial of these GM maize varieties was not completed at the time the meeting was convened. These unapproved varieties hence should not be put on the agenda of the PSC meeting, which was expected to be chaired by provincial minister for agriculture.

Moreover, the Wednesday meeting was going to accord approval to the minutes of a previous related event without consultation with the stakeholders. According to agenda item (F), confirmation/approval of Minutes of the 2nd Meeting for Formulation of Guidelines for Cultivation of GM Maize in Punjab held on November 6, 2017 would be done. However, the minutes of the said meeting have not been finalised yet and authorities concerned did not share it with the participants.

The main opposition of the GM maize commercialisation by stakeholder has been related to reservations about its adverse effects on local varieties due to cross pollination. The cross pollination through wind could contaminate local varieties, it has been claimed.

In the November 6 meeting, the participants agreed that a six-member committee be formed to carry out trials at select locations to observe if contamination occurred or not. However, this process was not initiated and no such trial was conducted. One reason of not issuing minutes of the meeting to participants was stated to be non-implementation/follow up on these agreed points.

Sidiq Khan, senior vice president of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Seed Association, said that it is very unfortunate that Punjab government wanted to bulldoze whole regulatory process of GM seeds. “Such a step has huge implications for our seed system,” he said.

“Cross pollination of maize will deprive us from our precious food of white corn that has been an integral part of our staple diet for centuries. The unilateral and secret act of Punjab is deplorable to maximum extent,” he added.

Mushtaq Khan, secretary general of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Seed Association, vowed that his association would not allow any such move that was aiming to approve GM maize.

“Many developed and developing countries including our neighbouring nations are resisting any such step of granting approval to GM seed technology, which is potentially laced with serious questions about food safety,” he added.

When Muhammad Naeem Akhtar Khan Bhabha, minister for agriculture, Punjab, was contacted, he did not comment on the serious allegations of “covert attempt to approve GM maize in the province”.