Field trials of genetically modified products will have to wait for now. The Supreme Court today restrained the Centre from granting any fresh approval for such trials in the country till further orders.

The order came from a Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Y.K. Sabharwal. The order will not apply to field trials of GM products already underway, implying that trials on BT brinjal and BT cotton can proceed. But their approval by the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) will not happen till court orders.

The Bench passed the order while dealing with a PIL filed by one Aruna Rodrigues who complained that the GM products being introduced by some of the MNCs posed serious threat to ecology, crops and human lives.

Citing the spate of suicides of farmers in Maharashtra’s Vidarbha region and other places in the country as an offshoot of the extensive use of GM seeds, the petitioner sought a complete ban on their usage.

She alleged that the GEAC granted permission for the products in a reckless manner without considering the debilitating effect they would have on the crops and human lives.

The petitioner said the move to allow large-scale field trials of BT brinjal by biotech company Mahyco, an Indian collaborative and partner company of Monsanto, if not checked would lead to untold hardships to the farmers and large-scale destruction of crops. The matter will come up for hearing on October 13.