Production and Sale of Spurious Bt Cotton Seeds in Gujarat.

The Ministry had earlier received various complaints that spurious Bt. Cotton seeds are being produced and sold in Gujarat without the approval of the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) constituted under Rule 1989. In response, 10 packets of cotton seeds alleged to contain Bt. gene were forwarded to Central Institute of Cotton Research ( CICR) for verification. The report of the CICR confirms that cotton seeds which are being produced and sold in Gujarat under the following Brand names, have tested positive for the presence of Cry 1 Ac gene. The Report interalia quotes “ We carried out PCR and ELISA tests on 8 seeds from each of the packets. We would like to confirm the following results.

Sample No.	Brand Name	Result	Remarks
1.	Brand name: Rakshak	Positive	F-1 seeds
2.	Brand name: Virat	Positive	F-1 seeds
3.	Brand name: Captain F-1 HYBRID COTTON SEEDS.	Positive	F-1 seeds
4.	Brand name: Research Hybrid Cotton F-1 ( Tilak)	Positive	F-1 seeds
5.	Brand name: TRISHUL ( F1)	Positive	F-1 seeds
6.	Brand name: KAVACH F-1 HYBRID KAPAS – 151.	Positive	F-1 seeds
7.	Brand name: SURAKSHA – HYBRID COTTON SEEDS.	Positive	F-1 seeds
8.	Brand name: RESEARCH HYBRID COTTON F-1.	Positive	F-1 seeds
9.	Brand name: KRUSHI-357	Positive	F-2 seeds/seed mix
10.	Brand name: SARTHI	Positive	F-2 seeds

The above hybrids have not been approved by the GEAC and therefore, production/sale/use of the above hybrids is a clear violation of the Rule 1989 and liable for punitive action under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.

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