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The Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has updated the rules for selecting expert members to the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC), which regulates GM seeds in India.
New rules
New rules require experts to disclose any conflict of interest that may affect their duties.
If an expert has any direct or indirect connection with the matter being discussed, they must declare it before the meeting.
Experts with potential conflicts must recuse themselves from the discussion, unless asked to participate.
All committee members must also fill out a form detailing their professional affiliations from the past 10 years.
These changes follow a Supreme Court ruling in July 2023, which required the Centre to create a national policy on GM crops.
The Court gave a split verdict on the approval of GM mustard and directed that conflict-of-interest issues be addressed.
The conflict arose from allegations in 2013 that a committee member had links to Monsanto, a company now owned by Bayer CropScience.
The goal of these new rules is to ensure transparency and prevent bias in decisions regarding GM crops.
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