India Develops Genome-Edited Rice to Fight Climate Change Amid Safety Concerns

However, on May 5, the Coalition for a GM-Free India criticised the government for releasing two genome-edited rice varieties, alleging that the move was on account of pressure from corporate lobbies

“It is shocking that the Government of India is doing unlawful things under pressure from corporate lobbies. There is an enormous body of scientific literature pointing to the lack of safety of gene editing techniques,” the Coalition said in a statement.

The group raised concerns that these gene-edited rice varieties could jeopardise India’s diverse rice gene pool, arguing that gene editing falls under India’s statutory definition of genetic modification.

The Coalition also objected to the deregulation of SDN-1 and SDN-2 gene editing techniques, claiming that these varieties were released “without any safety testing” under the “smokescreen of higher yield/drought resistance”.

“A lot of studies show that a lot of traditional seed varieties are nutritionally superior, stress-tolerant, and therefore, resilient. They are open-source and don’t have Intellectual Property issues. They are the solution, therefore not GM crops,” Kuruganti, a representative of the Coalition for a GM-Free India told India Today, mentioning the role of traditional seed varieties over GM seeds.